I'll Be Coming Around
by assantra
Summary: This story was originally started by Wicked42, credit to her. I adopted it. Original concept hers I ran with it. Walsh tries to protect Schraeger from a serial killer. She's not the most cooperative of "material witnesses." She wants to get the bad guy herself! Please enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll Be Coming Around**

**Prologue**

Walsh strolled into the precinct, nearly dragging a skinny kid by the arm. The kid squirmed as they approached the processing desk, and his voice was high and whiny as he said, "Look, man, I said I was sorry!"

"I don't want to hear it," he replied gruffly, shoving the kid into a nearby chair. "Now sit."

The officer behind the desk looked mildly amused, "What's he in for?"

"Urinating in public," Walsh replied.

"I didn't know it was a cop car!"

"That wasn't your first mistake, kid," Walsh said.

The officer behind the desk grinned and pushed a form forward. Walsh picked a black pen from a nearby glass and started filling it out, occasionally glancing up to make sure the kid didn't move. He was just about finished when Sergeant Brown yelled down the stairs.

"Walsh! My office. Now."

"In a minute," Walsh said, signing his name. He thrust the form to the officer and turned to the kid. "Now play nice, and you may be out in a week."

"A week?" the kid said eyes scrunching in desperation. "Come on dude—"

"Stop whining and be a man about it," Walsh said, and waved to the officer at the desk. The officer nodded, already retrieving the holding cell's key from his desk. Brown's orders were ringing in Walsh's ears, and he didn't wait around.

Brown's office was immaculate, as always, and the man had a disapproving scowl on his face when Walsh dropped into an empty chair. He didn't look up for a moment, eyes darting over his computer screen as he read an email.

Walsh cleared his throat. He didn't have all day, after all.

Brown glanced up, narrowing his eyes, "You won't _believe _this shit, Walsh."

They'd been working together a long time, and Walsh couldn't remember seeing Brown this annoyed. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his arm on his knee. His grey eyes were sharp, concerned. "What's going on?"

"They're releasing Lawson," the sergeant replied.

Silence reigned.

Walsh pushed to his feet, "What?"

"Jeremy Lawson. His parole starts in three days, and they decided to send me an email today. Nice of them to get around to it, Brown said, venom seeping from the words.

"How the hell did he get parole?"

"He sweet talked the judge. He made nice with the guards. He was the perfect inmate. So they figured, 'why not?"

Walsh slammed his hands onto Brown's desk and said, "Because he killed four women, that's why!"

Brown leaned back, irritated, and waved a hand, "You don't have to tell me, Walsh. I remember the bastard. But you and Schraeger only got him on attempted, and you know that won't put anyone in jail long. "You need hard evidence."

"Shit." Walsh rocked back on his heels and paced to the window. He stared through it, down at the street below, and anger surged. He had to work to control his voice, to keep from snarling at his boss. "It should have kept him longer than a year."

"I know. I'm fighting hand and fist, but there's not enough time. He'll be on parole in _three _days, Walsh, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it." Walsh rubbed his face and spun on his heel, striding toward the door. Brown stood, called, "You'd better find Schraeger. I'm giving you a week's vacation to get her somewhere safe."

"Already on it," Walsh replied, and left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Schraeger leaned forward, pushed her breasts together with her arms, and flashed her most dazzling smile, "Come on, Eduardo, It's just a location. Not a name, not a time. Give me something, won't you?"

Eduardo looked down at her. He was standing on a stool with three steps, restocking the vast shelving behind the bar, but his hand paused and his determination wavered. She could almost _see _him arguing with himself. Just a bit more.

"Look we've been friends, haven't we? And I don't steer my friends wrong. We are friends, aren't we?"

The repetition solidified the word. _Friend._ Eduardo nodded slowly and stepped down from the stool. Casey leaned forward even more as he dropped his voice, "Yeah. Okay, fine. But you didn't hear it from me."

"I never do," she replied with a wink.

He opened his mouth, and the front door slammed open. Eduardo visibly jolted, scrambling backwards like he'd been shot. "I didn't say nothin'!" he said. His eyes glazed over Walsh—in his mind, he was seeing Derenzo, the gun-happy drug dealer who was quickly becoming a drug_ lord. _The man Casey had been trying for weeks to put down.

Now she was losing her best lead, and it was Walsh's fault. Her partner strolled towards the bar, and the closer he got, the further Eduardo backed away. Casey snapped to get the barkeep's attention, tried to salvage the situation.

"Eduardo. The information? I promise nothing will happen to you."

"No." He was shaking his head back and forth like a dog with a rag. He nearly tripped over the stepstool, but he just kept backing up. "No I ain't talking."

Walsh narrowed his eyes at the man and said, "Good. Get out of here."

Eduardo didn't need encouraging. He disappeared through the back door of the

Casey straightened glaring at her partner. "What the hell, Walsh? I was about to get a meeting place for the Derenzo deal. Now I'll be lucky if I can get directions to the nearest McDonalds from him."

Walsh didn't seem fazed. He held her gaze and said, "Doesn't matter, You're on vacation starting now. Come on." He turned and started for the bar's front door again. Casey surged after him, sprinting a few feet to catch up.

"What vacation?" she asked. He held the door open for her, and she slipped past. Then he resumed the brisk pace towards her squad car. She held even with him, said, "Walsh, what the hell is going on?"

"Lawson." He replied.

Her gut clenched. She stopped short, stared at his back. He paused a few feet away and looked over his shoulder. His expression softened and he walked back to her.

"It'll be fine," he said. "Brown's already working on it."

She didn't see how it could be fine. Lawson had killed four women, and she was nearly the fifth. And even after that.. the best they could get him on was _attempted_ murder."

And now he was out. Walsh didn't even have to tell her that; it wasn't hard to figure. She couldn't really say she was surprised, either. She'd imagined this conversation a thousand times in her nightmares.

Still, she was a cop, damn it. A fucking homicide detective, strong and smart and backed by the best partner anywhere. And Lawson was who? A man. Just a slimy, rich man who got away with murder. The kind of man she specialized in hunting.

"Brown doesn't need to work on it." She said carefully, holding her head high. She met Walsh's gaze and tried to keep her voice steady as she continued, "I'm on the case. This time I'll put him away for good."

He huffed in irritation and shook his head, "Not this time, Schraeger." This time you're going on vacation. You like Hawaii, right?"

He stepped towards the door again, but she didn't move . She put a hand on her hip, brushed the firearm strapped there, and felt powerful.

"I'm not running," she said.

Walsh stomped back to her, gritting his teeth, "Shit, Casey, the last time you met this guy, he nearly put you out of commission. Let Brown handle this. You caught him once. Now you have to step back and wait for the system to work itself out."

"Are you going to help me or not, Walsh?"

He wasn't happy, she could tell. But he wouldn't let her do it alone, so she'd already won. When he groaned and held out his own hand, she gave him the keys and slid into the passenger seat of the squad car. He started the engine, but he didn't pull away from the curb.

"Walsh?" she asked.

He turned, twisting in his seat as he appraised her. After a moment, he reached out and gripped her shoulder, expression concerned. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded, feeling lightheaded.

Lightheaded?

Too late, she realized where his thumb was pressing. With a bit of pressure, he was cutting off her circulation. Her vision darkened, and she barely had time to say, "Walsh—" before she slumped against the car's seat.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Casey groaned awake on a small couch. For a moment she tried to regain her bearings. It was loud, white noise that sounded like rushing air. The couch shuddered a bit, which was odd—the couch in her apartment never moved like that.

Her fingers brushed against a tear in the black leather. Casey squinted at it for a moment, groggily trying to determine why it seemed familiar.

Then she remembered a big yellow lab sitting on the couch, a 9th birthday present from her mother. They were flying the dog back from Germany and it didn't like being 40,000 feet up. It panicked, leapt from the couch, slicing the leather with its claw.

Flying home.

On the Schraeger family jet.

"You've got to be _kidding_ me," she said.

"Morning." Walsh said, smirking behind his coffee cup. He was sitting at a nearby table, a newspaper unfolded in front of him, a plate of half-eaten eggs sitting at his right arm. He looked ridiculously casual, dressed in jeans and a black tee. If she didn't know better, she'd think it was just another day at his diner.

He took another sip of coffee and fanned the paper as he turned the page, "You hungry? There's breakfast in the oven." He offered before dropping his eyes back to the blotted words.

She took the seat across from him and glared. Walsh merely raised his eyebrows at her, unfazed. "You bastard," she said.

He shrugged and flipped to a new page. His fingers were brushed with black ink from the paper. "Have you been talking to Beaumont? Because that's what she told me when we broke up."

Casey squinted at him, leaning a bit closer. He was trying to distract her from his actions, trying to make her forget that he's knocked her unconscious and hauled her to God-knows-where on her family's jet.

"How did you even get this jet?"

"Told your parents about Lawson," he said. His lips were pursed in a grim line, but he didn't take his eyes from the newspaper. "They remembered."

"Shit," she said, as she grit her teeth. "Bad enough that the whole precinct thinks I run when the going gets tough, but now you get my parents involved. Like they need another reason to hate my job."

Walsh leaned forward and met her gaze for the first time. His gray eyes were cold as steel, as he said, "Yeah, cause Lawson nearly killing you the first time wasn't enough of a reason." He sounded genuinely annoyed with her, and for the first time, she almost felt repentant.

"Get off your high horse, Schraeger." he said. "Your parents were worried sick. Brown is the only one who knows you're even gone and that's under his direct order. Hell Casey, I'm flying halfway around the world to protect you. Be glad you have people who care about you enough to do all this."

Betrayal wound deep in her stomach, twisting her insides and making her feel sick with disgust. She became a cop so she could fight her own battles and back up her decisions. Walsh should know that. She figured he had.

She pushed to her feet and said, "You had no right to _kidnap _me, Jason!" Anger made her stumble over her words and she paused to draw a breath, "If you want to run and hide, fine. But I'm not your sister, and I'm not your girlfriend, and I sure as hell, don't need your protection."

He stood as well, scowling at her, eyes flashing irately, "Do you know what a pain in the ass it was breaking in a new partner? Forgive me if I don't want my current one running off to get herself killed."

"What makes you so sure I will?" Casey demanded. "Why are you so sure he's going to come after me?" She said, stepping around the table, closer to him, drawing herself up to her full height.

Walsh didn't look fazed. He stared her down and said bluntly, "He wrote you a letter a week for the last year, Schraeger."

"What?" Casey said, shocked. "I never got any letters."

"Of course you didn't. I kept them."

She didn't move, barely breathed, just stared into those gray eyes, her own filled with shocked betrayal. He inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes. Then when the silence seemed deafening he pulled away.

"We're going to Switzerland." he said, "We land in a few hours, so you'd better make peace with the arrangement now, because until Lawson is behind bars again, it's the best you're getting."

Without another word, he stalked toward the couch she'd vacated, spread across the plush leather and covered his eyes withan arm.

Casey simmered at the table for half the flight and explored and plotted the other half until the plane began its descent.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N****—**So hope everyone is enjoying this. Wicked 42 gets all credit for the concept and first parts of this but she felt she couldn't complete the story and took it back down. I asked if I could adopt her orphan and she agreed and I have run with it. Thank you for the reviews and follows. Please continue to review. I will be trying to post every Friday.

**A/N 2-**Because I had so many reviews and follows, and because of **ladygris **who actually stopped working on her own project to read this because she couldn't wait. I kind of couldn't wait till Friday to post this. Please review, I love it and it helps me write better. Thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback.

**Chapter 3 **

A whine startled Jason awake, then he remembered where he was. The plane, the whine was the engines decelerating he guessed, they must be preparing to land. Then he remembered Casey and half rose to look around. Casey was sitting at the table looking quite calm.

Jason considered that he had basically knocked Casey out, kidnapped her and flown her halfway around the world to keep her away from a serial killer. Most people would be grateful or even relieved, _not his partner._ Schraeger was furious with him. Which was why alarm bells were ringing louder than the bells of St. John's Cathedral because of that serene Mona Lisa smile.

Walsh sat up keeping his face carefully neutral. He rubbed his palms over his face then ran his fingers through his hair making it spike up, in all directions.

"We'll be landing in about 45 minutes, maybe longer if the airport is busy. Which it probably will be. Switzerland is beautiful thi time of year." Seeing him grimace slightly, Casey indicated the hall beside him and said, "There is a toothbrush and comb in the bathroom you can use." As her partner stared at her, not bothering to hide his suspiscion, she said cheerfully, "Don't come near me till you brush your teeth. Seeing him continue to hesitate she ordered, "Go!" and then added as an afterthought, "Sorry, no razors."

As Jason made his way down the hall to the bathroom, the white noise of the plane drowned out Casey saying in an undertone, "Guess somebody forgot their shaving kit, or to pack at all."

She chuckled as she went to the storage closet across from the kitchenette, and pulled out a three piece set of matched luggage, a parka, and boots. Casey went back to the kitchenette, started a pot of coffee and rummaged around for lunch. One thing was for sure she wasn't letting Walsh anywhere near the kitchenette. She managed to find the fixings for chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and pickles. She prepared two travel mugs of coffee the way she and Walsh both liked and set the makeshift lunch on the table.

Casey walked over to one of her bags and pulled a sweater out. Taking off her blazer and heels she stuffed them into the bag before zipping it closed. She pulled the snow boots on and slid the sweater over her head before grabbing the parka. Sliding back into her chair she tossed the parka on the back of a free chair, and began to eat her lunch with gusto.

When Walsh came out of the remarkably luxurious bathroom a few moments later, he followed the tempting aroma of coffee up the hall. Where he saw Casey working the crossword in the paper, while eating a sandwich. Instantly he was back on guard, as he sat down at the table, but the allure of the coffee was too much. Removing the lid he inhaled the heavenly aroma of the high quality coffee.

"I didn't poison it, if that's what you're thinking. After all I didn't let you go anywhere near it." Casey said snarkily.

She placed the pen on the paper and the sandwich on the plate before taking a sip of her own coffee. Jason relaxed slightly into a smirk as he said, "Didn't think you did Schraeger." Then after taking a sip from the travel mug, he nearly moaned in gratitude before adding, "Good thing. I'd have to send you to confession for committing such a sin."

Casey merely rolled her eyes at her partners irreverent sense of humor. He wasn't up to full snark mode yet but give him time. Of course, she hadn't gotten around to letting the wind out of his sails yet either. Polishing off her lunch she returned everything to the kitchenette. Casey walked past Jason with her refilled coffee mug.

The pilot announced that they were about to land and requested that the passengers return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts. Casey grabbed her parka and went to one of the seats. More like recliners than even the business class seats that Jason was used to from his ball playing days. He joined her and had finshed buckling in before he registered the parka and her change in appearance. Slowly, his posture stiffened again, "Nice sweater." He said in a cool tone.

"Oh this old thing." Casey said in a slightly vapid tone. "Yes it was one of my favorites for when we were visiting the Alps. Mom must have added it to my bolt bag." She said casually, indicating the luggage now residing on the leather couch.

"Bolt bag?" Jason said brows knit as he regarded the brunette. He knew she was leading up to something, but what?

"Yeah, between Dad's work, Mom's social calendar and me _discovering_ myself, we rarely got away for vacations. So Mom started packing ahead. One set for Switzerland, one set for Hawaii." She shrugged nonchalantly and continued. "Well technically, I think she had the maids do it, but you get the point. That way we could bolt off at a moments notice."

"Makes sense." Walsh said as his scowl became darker. Still not getting the punchline but he knew it was coming.

"I really love the Alps this time of year. I did a report on Switzerland in grade school actually. Got an A+ if I remember correctly. So how are you rated for skiing? The ski's should still be in good shape at the lodge, and we have a caretaker who makes sure we have plenty of firewood and everything.." Casey's voice trailed off as Jason realized what was going on. He looked down at his tennis shoes, t-shirt and jeans.

His face reddened and he said quietly, "Schraeger?"

"What's the matter Walsh? Forget to pack your long underwear?" his partner asked with a smirk.

The engines gave a scream and there was a slight bump as they landed. "You know the average temperature in Zurich at this time of year rarely gets above 30 degrees. So you want to protect me huh? Might be a little hard to do when little pieces start freezing and falling off from frostbite." She concluded jovially.

Studying her partner she continued in a much less serene or amused tone. "You and my parents both want me to be the spoiled little heiress. Without a pair of brain cells to rub together in her head. Partying till dawn, throwing daddys money at her problems to make them go away. If that doesn't work run away on daddys jet. Take your current boytoy to Switzerland without even giving them a chance to pack, not even a shaving kit. Who knows though, you might look cute with a beard," she said as the plane taxied to a hanger.

"So here's the deal Walsh, you and my folks can't remember that I'm a cop. That I can make my own decisions about _my life. _Fine I'll play it your way. You want us to be undercover so Lawson can't find us? Fine, what could be more undercover, than a snobby heiress taking her latest conquest on a holiday to the Swiss Alps. I'll act the snobby princess in public, dress you up like my own personal Ken doll. Ski during the day and party half the night at every nightclub in town. When we're out in public you'll obey my every whim with a smile on your face like a good little gold digger. When we go back to the lodge you'll go your way and I'll go mine. To everyone and anyone else we'll be just a typical rich American couple having a little vacation in the Alps. Nothing out of the ordinairy, nothing to attract attention, just another poor dumb little rich girl."

Without waiting to make sure the jet was at a full stop Casey went to the storage closet again and pulled out a fur lined parka before stalking back to stand by her seat. One hand holding the jacket the other holding the back of the seat.

"In exchange for me allowing you to push me back into this world and turn me back into that girl." She paused to catch a breath and regain control before continuing, "In exchange for my cooperation and my credit card, you will give me the letters Lawson sent me. I want every piece of the puzzle."

His mouth closed after a moment and he said, "Why, so you can solve the case yourself?"

"You bet your ass!" she said eyes flashing.

He studied her and said finally, "You'll get the letters."

She gave him a winsome smile and said, "Thank you." In a saccharine tone before throwing the jacket at his head. Catching it before it could do any damage, Jason slid into it gratefully.

The pilot announced there would be a few more minutes delay as the ground crew completed parking procedures. Walsh looked over at Casey who had her arms crossed and was staring out the window pensively. She turned her head and met his gaze with her own stormy one. She gave him a half hearted smile that never quite reached her eyes. "Don't worry Walsh. I have a feeling those letters are going to be the key to locking Lawson up for good. I'll have the case cracked in no time."

Suddenly she wasn't there, not like she disappeared, Walsh was looking right at the woman. Schraeger his partner, wasn't in those eyes anymore, there was still intelligence there but distance too. A look of bored disdain fell across her features with a little too much ease for Walsh's comfort. Her back straightened, her eyes hardened and became colder. This wasn't the cop look he had taught her one night after work, sitting in his diner.

This look was empty, unfeeling, un-Casey. Standing back up as they heard the door to the fuselage unlatch, Casey Schraeger heiress to the Schraeger fortune said, "You're in my precinct now Walsh. You get to follow my lead."

Walsh watched as she slid the parka on with practiced ease. Ice ran through his veins as surely as if he had been thrown into a snow drift outside. Even the voice was different, not Casey, not his partner, not his friend, not…what?

A sick feeling began to roil in his gut. Had he done this? The icy churn in the pit of his stomach gave him his answer, and it wasn't a pleasant sensation by any means.

"Oh and Jason," she said with a mirthless smile, "I will make you regret this."

He already did.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N-A little sexual innuendo is all. Story building here. Thank you for all the reviews, the fav, the follows, etc. I do love it. Encouragement and reviews are good for a writers ego and skill. Please continue to review and hope you also continue to enjoy.**

**Chapter 4**

True to her word, as soon as they landed, the Heiress, ordered the driver to go to Bahnhofstrasse. Seeing Walsh's blank look she explained it was the Rodeo Drive of Zurich. As they traveled into town the Heiress, (as Walsh had decided to call this rather imposing version of his partner) took down his sizes in everything from shoes to underwear and everything in between.

"What are you doing?" asked Walsh.

"Battle plan," she said without looking up, "Shopping is war, at least according to my mother. You have to have a battle plan to win. First convert sizes, they're different in Europe. Then we need to get you some luggage to put the clothes in. Then the department store for toiletries, I was only kidding about the beard thing. Got to get socks, undershirts, underwear…boxers right. Oh and no pajamas, cause you sleep in the nude.

His mouth gaped at her for a minute before he managed in what he hoped was a manly tone. "How do you know I wear boxers…and how would you know how I sleep?"

"I'm a trained investigator," she deadpanned, and for a moment his Casey was back. Shaking her head slightly, she added, "That or Allison mentioned it in the locker room. Whatever you're more comfortable with."

Walsh wasn't sure which he was _less_ comfortable with. The fact that his ex-girlfriend and his partner were talking about him in the locker room. A thought that opened a whole range of conversational land-mines and potential blackmail material he didn't even want to consider… Or the fact that Schraeger, his partner, had checked him out well enough to have figured out not only his underwear preferences, but also his sleeping attire or lack thereof.

Of course he had done the same thing to her soon after they had first met. This was a little too close to the zing of awareness he had felt when she (not the Heiress, thank God) had talked about dressing him up like her personal Ken doll. Yeah that had actually hit a couple of buttons he didn't even know he had.

When they arrived at Zurich's premiere shopping center, the Heiress, was back in full force. What ensued was a whirlwind of shopping, starting with a fine leather goods store, where she had him choose his luggage while she had the manager track down a couple of belts, some dress shoes and boots and a few other things. When he brought a carryall and a suit bag to the counter, the Heiress growled and said a few words to a clerk. Shortly the entire set of luggage sat at the counter and when he started to argue the expense, the Heiress gave him a quelling look before handing over her credit card to the cashier.

Walsh wasn't trying to see the card, honestly. He was however, trying to figure out how much everything cost so that he could pay Schraeger back. Not that she'd let him of course but maybe he could talk to…and then he saw the card.

The name on it wasn't Casey Schraeger, or Schraeger at all, it was McKenna, Siobhan McKenna. Who the hell was Siobhan McKenna? Better yet why was his partner using her credit card? He was actually about to ask when the clerk asked for identification and while Walsh began making an exit strategy, Casey pulled her passport out to show the girl.

Walsh then saw the name on the passport matched the name on the credit card. The shop girl studied the photo on the passport, examined Casey and then studied the credit card, before Walsh broke in, "Is there a problem?"

The clerk responded with a cheery smile, "No sir. No problem at all." She handed the passport back to Casey before running the card.

When they got back outside, Walsh caught his partners arm and pulled her to a stop as the clerks continued to the limo. "Credit card fraud and identity theft, really Schraeger?" he whispered vehemently, while running his hands through his hair agitatedly. "Who the hell is Siobhan McKenna?"

A flash of pain crossed her face before it smoothed back into the cool countenance of the Heiress. She said casually, "Siobhan and I met in boarding school, trust me, she doesn't mind me pretending to be her. Besides you didn't really think I'd be using my real name while we were here did you? That's the first thing Lawson will check for Walsh. You taught me better than that. Now can we go?" With that she left him there feeling more than a little sheepish as he followed her to the car.

They stopped at a department store next and collected everything he would need from socks to toiletries to underwear. The underwear the Heiress picked were actually silk, with a couple of pairs of long underwear and a pack of boxer briefs. When a blushing Jason opened his mouth to protest she merely gave him the death glare again and tossed them to the rather flustered assistant manager. A pair of snow boots and a hooded, fleece lined jacket of his own were added to the growing pile of purchases by the counter.

Handing Jason a pair of woolen socks and the winter boots she told him frankly, "Here put these on and try not to turn blue," and then ordered the packages taken to the car. She followed the clerks and driver out of the door.

Walsh felt a tug of anger and following his partner, he caught her arm and snapped, "I'm not actually your Ken doll, Schraeger."

A raised eyebrow and Casey was back, "G.I. Joe then?" before turning and walking to the car.

"Casey?" he said sliding into the car beside her.

"I get it Walsh, I really do," she said tiredly. "I don't like it but I will _probably _forgive you for it, maybe, _eventually_. In the meantime watching you turn into a copsicle not really the way I had in mind to punish you. Since it's my fault you did rush me out of the country without even packing. The least I can do is buy you some appropriate clothing." By the time they had gotten to the exclusive men's boutique Jason had his shoes changed, and had just begun to get feeling back in his toes

When the heiress, yes she was back, walked with Jason into the clothing store. The heiress called out for the manager and again clothes were picked out. When she was done he had ten new suits, measurements were taken for a tux, he had enough casual clothes for a month and several outfits that looked to be for clubbing. The last of the outfits, leather pants so tight he had to go commando and took at least 10 minutes just to get them on were combined with a dark grey silk shirt and one of the new pairs of boots. They were out the door before Walsh could even lodge a protest.

Apparently while he had been busy, the heiress had made other plans. The driver pulled up outside another boutique and she ordered the driver to keep the car running. She was only gone 15 minutes and when she returned…Jason realized the extra room, he now needed wasn't to be found in the leather pants.

Gold stilettos showed off a pair of surprisingly long legs. The modest cream colored beaded shift stopped above the knee, but the slit in the side went to the hip. Rows of chains with multi-colored stones dropped from her neck with matching earrings brushing her bare shoulders. Her brunette hair was piled on top of her head with a few ringlets left to dangle with the earrings around the halter top of the dress.

Night had fallen while they had been in the men's shop but the heiress seemed to glow more brightly than the street lamps. Walsh noted that she was also perfectly made up. The driver helped her into the car and almost before she was settled they were off again. All Walsh could do was stare at her.

Before he could collect his thoughts, they were at a club. The bouncer angled his head toward the heiress and motioned them forward as he unhooked the velvet rope.

Inside was noise, gyrating bodies, an ice cold beer for him, and a glass of iced water for her. They were led to a cordoned off VIP area and a booth, with curtains for privacy. He had seen several of the booths that already had the curtains pulled closed and from the sounds and smells he could tell what was going on behind the curtains.

"Why are we here?" he said into her ear.

"To be seen remember. Everything is normal here, lovers on vacation, nothing to see. Don't worry, we only have to stay about half an hour tonight. Tomorrow we'll have to stay longer, put in more of an appearance." Casually she lifted her feet onto the seat beside her, and sighed.

He turned to study her face, the Heiress was gone again. Casey sat beside him, her eyes were tired and he would bet the recently applied makeup hid shadows of exhaustion. On impulse he leaned back and pulled her arm so she was leaning against him.

"Walsh." Casey said warningly.

"Hush. We've both been going nonstop since we found out about Lawson," Jason added, "except for the nap on the plane."

"You mean when you knocked me out?" she snarked.

"Yeah that," he responded unapologetically.

They were both exhausted when Casey decided they had spent enough time in the public eye. The pair rose and headed to the door, he saw Casey stumble and wrapped his arm supportively around her waist. Walsh walked her out of the club, keeping the mass of gyrating bodies from jostling her. Then they were out in the cold, fresh air and he was practically carrying her to the car, when it happened.

"Cassandra?" a gratingly high feminine voice called. Walsh would have kept on walking, but Schraeger froze, stiffening beside him. He looked down to see the Heiress staring back, the temperature seemed to drop 10 degrees.

She turned to face the blond walking towards them a handsome dark skinned gentleman following her. Comparing her to his partner was no contest, where Casey looked cool and elegant, this woman looked like she was trying to prove something.

"It is you. I'm surprised to see you here, my dear," said the woman. "You've not been running with the usual's lately."

Walsh almost snorted at the irony but managed to cover it with a cough, which unfortunately drew the woman's attention to him.

"And who's this? Not your usual type, my dear," said the woman and the way she looked at Walsh made him feel like a prime rib in a meat market.

"Hello Francesca, this is Jason, my partner." she said proprietarily.

"Partner, really?!" said the blond studying him more closely and more avariciously. "Business or pleasure?"

"Both." said Walsh quickly, though he couldn't have said why.

"Casey Schraeger, in a committed partnership? Who would have guessed? You must come and see us while you are here Cassandra. So we can get to know your Jason better." If the voice didn't give it away the covetous look in her eye would have told anyone what she meant by the statement.

"Sorry Fran, don't think you're on my calendar this season." And with that the Heiress and her partner went to their waiting car.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

The next morning Walsh once again woke in a strange place. He turned over to face the grey sky of early morning and trees. A lot of trees on the other side of a wall of glass windows, trees, ok yeah, not a normal New York City view. Then he remembered he wasn't at the Stage, or his little apartment behind the Stage, or the station house. He was at what Schraeger's family, called a lodge, honestly from what he vaguely remembered of the outside last night, the thing was a mansion made of logs, in Switzerland. He got out of bed and after a long winded cursing session while he dressed in record time, Walsh made the decision to at least temporarily forgo his normal routine of sleeping _au naturel_.

Dressed in the long underwear, long sleeved t-shirt, jeans, wool socks and snow boots, he took his new shaving kit to the attached bathroomand took care of his morning necessities. Walking downstairs, he followed the aroma of coffee to the open kitchen. He found Casey there staring at the coffee pot in obvious impatience as it continued to drip. He watched her with some amusement before saying, "Staring at it won't make it work any faster, Schraeger."

Casey jumped slightly and looked bleary eyed over her shoulder at him before saying, "You do it then, your _intimidation_ stare is still better than mine."

He gave a short bark of laughter, and said "Why didn't you just preset it last night?"

"Last night? I was lucky I could remember where my room was." Her brows drew together, "as it is I seem to have lost a shoe and an earring somewhere."

He tilted his head at her and said thoughtfully, "Don't remember the earrings but you definitely had both shoes on when we came inside last night."

He moved past her and started exploring the cabinets, rather than run the risk of being poisoned, Casey directed him to the cabinets for cereal, and got out milk, yogurt, and fruit. She snorted a little at his offended look but managed not to laugh outright at her partner. The coffee pot made a little clicking noise and Casey made their cups as Walsh set their breakfast up at the island. They ate in companionable silence for several minutes.

Walsh was studying her over his mug, as she returned from getting her second cup of coffee, he finally broke the silence. "Who was the woman last night? She was trying to push your buttons, and you hid it well but she managed to hit a few."

Jason watched as Casey, more slowly this time, disappeared behind the Heiress. She didn't quite freeze him out, instead she nodded her head slightly, as though a decision had been made and said quietly, "Her name is Francesca Roth, we went to boarding school together. Until my parents figured out that boarding school was _passe'_ at least. We were actually roommates for the first several months, thats what started my "phase"." She said making air quotes with her fingers before continuing, "at least that's what my parents called it. When I suddenly realized that I didn't want to end up like Francesca or any of the other snobs." With that she stood up and walked back to the kitchen, ending the conversation, though not to Walsh's satisfaction.

Finishing off her coffee she indicated for Walsh to follow her. She led the way to a closed door a few feet from the kitchen. She opened the door and flipped on the light to show him a fully functioning office. Complete with computer, printer/fax machine and phone line.

"I figured if you didn't pack you definitely wouldn't have brought the letters with you. You wouldn't leave them in the precinct house because they'd be considered evidence. So either a lawyer or a bank, probably lawyer. So you make the call and the fax number is on the machine," she said indicating the post it taped down to the side of the machine, "and there's extra paper beneath if you need it."

Before she continued, he interrupted and said, "Can'tSchraeger, not right now."

Eyes flashing, she turned on him, "What you think I can't handle this. You think I'm going to let that scumbag get to me. Or are you just trying to…"

Before she can continue the diatribe, he grasps her shoulders firmly and said, "Casey, whoa ok. I can't do it right now because it's around midnight Sunday back in New York. What's going on with you, really?"he wondered for a moment if this was really all about Derek Lawson or if something deeper was going on.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she replied and he wasn't really sure if it was Casey or the Heiress answering him. "Just a little…frustrated is all. Want to be working on the case already. I want him back behind bars where he belongs, that's all."

His piercing blue gray gaze bore into her own darker eyes and then she said, "Well we have to find something to occupy our time, "How about we go skiing?"

The unexpected change of subject shocked him into letting her go and he wasn't entirely sure that wasn't the intention, but he'd play along, _for now._ "I've never actually skied before."

"Ok, so we can start slow and easy. The bunny slope and maybe a little cross country skiing too." The pair got kitted up with a few instructions and demonstrations from Casey. After a few very embarrassing and occasionally uncomfortable stops and starts, Jason finally managed to get a few miles of cross country skiing under his belt and even tackled the bunny slope a couple of times before he crossed his skis and ended up taking a header into a snow bank. Casey couldn't help laughing as her partner sat up in the snowbank without his ski cap and shook at least a pound of snow out of his hair.

They had an early dinner at the ski lodge. Roast beef and vegetables, with a huge cup of thick hot cocoa with whipped cream on top for dessert. They then headed back to the lodge or as the Heiress called it the chalet. She advised they should take a nap before going clubbing again. The pair lay down but neither of them actually slept. Casey emerged from her room wearing a gold mini-dress and Jason said honestly, "You look incredible." She blushed shook her head and allowed him to help her into the car.

The driver took them to a different club this evening, again the sensory input was enough to make his eyes heavy and his head drum. Once again when he looked down at Casey he saw the Heiress instead, but he was determined to draw Casey back to the surface if he could. He even tried dancing with his partner. Which actually worked to a certain extent, Casey had told him once that he had no rhythm to speak off, she wasn't wrong and his frenetic gyrating only served to prove it.

After they agreed that he had embarrassed them both enough for one evening and decided to head home a little early. On the way out of the club they had the misfortune to run into Francesca Roth and her companion for the evening. This time it was a blond man with a carefully shaved moustache and goatee. Francesca insisted they join her at her home after the club for a nightcap.

The Heiress replied rather coldly, "Honestly Francesca, I don't think so."

"Why ever not my dear? You've been spending all your time in the States you must be bored with all of thatbourgeois American attitude by now." said the woman. While she still studied Walsh with a skin-crawling intensity.

"No I'm just not interested in _anything_ you have to offer. Remember Fran, I was your roommate. It wasn't impressive back then, it's even less so now."

Rage didn't do anything for Fran's looks. Jason stopped the punch Fran threw at Casey and shoved her back towards her date. "Eww rough," said Fran in an oily tone, "I like it, can I borrow him?"

Walsh didn't even look at her, checking on his partner instead who had stiffened beside him. Casey was rigid, staring at him once again with cold fury. Taking Casey's arm, Walsh led her to the waiting car.

The ride back to the chalet was tense and quiet. Jason looked at Schraeger in the darkened car, she had slid as far away from him as possible in the confines of the car. Her arms were crossed again like they had been on the plane.

Jason knew that lately he had been acting a complete idiot where his partner was concerned. Didn't mean he didn't know he had stepped in it again. He chided himself mentally, more like swimming in had intervened in the situation with Francesca to keep his partner safe, but she didn't need his protection. He had intervened in the situation with Lawson for the same reason. She had been intervening on his behalf the past few days to keep him clothed, safe and fed. He didn't like it, but it had helped him see what he was doing to Schraeger and…

He realized the car had stopped and Schraeger was already halfway up the steps of the made it to the doorway in time to see Casey kick off the four inch heels she had been wearing. One went flying toward the kitchen island and the other slid under the loveseat in the living room. He made a mental note of that before grabbing his partners arm, "Casey?"

The next thing he knew he was looking up from the floor. Casey stood over him as he coughed and gasped for breath. She was in a slight fighting stance, balancing on the balls of her feet, knees bent, arms close to her sides but slightly raised fists. Instinctively Jason raised his empty hands in surrender, as he struggled to sit up and said, "Uncle?"

His word meant to disarm his partner only had her stepping back slightly but still on the defensive. So instead of getting off the floor he merely sat up and said, "Ok I get it. I messed up big time. I shouldn't have treated you like a kid or like someone who needed protecting. Clearly," he said indicating his current position on the floor, "you can take care of yourself. Casey, I'm sorry. My only excuse is I remember you after we put Lawson away. I'm not saying I won't act like this again. I think we both know how stubborn and thick-headed I can be, but I will try to do better. I really am sorry."

As he spoke he noticed she had finally relaxed out of her stance. It was Casey though not the Heiress and even though she was looking at him doubtfully, he took the chance and stood up. He walked towards her and holding his hands away from his body, he removed the jacket he had been wearing, throwing it onto the back of the couch. Holding his arms out to the side he said, "I'm unarmed okay?" Finally she gave a very Casey like snort of laughter, rolling her eyes at him and said snarkily, "According to Beaumont, you're still armed, just not lethal."

"You guys really did talk about me in the locker room?" he said in an almost whining tone. Then he held a hand out to her and motioned with his head to the living area.

Sighing she took his hand and let him guide her to the love seat, lifting her feet off the cold stone floor she tucked them under her as he joined her, elbows on knees. He figured since they were clearing the air, he'd get as much cleared up as he could. Bluntly he asked, "Tell me why you act so differently here."

"This is where I went to boarding school, with Francesca. Back then I was just starting to figure out the Mins, and what they were about. The Ice Princess was to protect me from them." Schraeger said slowly as though the confession were a hard one to make.

"The Mins?" Walsh said softly, more directing, than questioning.

"The Mins, minions, people who want something from me, want to use me to get something from my parents, or work for people who want something from me or my parents." She said tiredly leaning her head against the back of the sofa.

Jason was going to ask more but he could see how exhausted his partner is. Standing he helps her off of the couch and the two of them head to bed. Sleep is slow in coming, as the two seem caught up in thoughts of the evening and each other, but they do manage to doze off.

Jason was awakened four hours later by Casey's screaming.

**A/N - Ok fair warning loyal readers there will be some violence in the next chapter. As well as flashback scenes. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Casey woke to sunshine streaming through the windows of her bedroom. A folded sheet of paper sat on her bedside table beside a bottle of pain relievers and a tall glass of water. The note advised her to take a couple of the pain relievers and join him in the kitchen. Casey feeling slightly better after the tall glass of water, splashed some cold water on her face in the en suite, and wrapped an old robe around her.

Casey walked into the kitchen to find Jason sitting at the island counter on the kitchen side. He had a cookbook open, reading some of the recipes. In front of him on the counter was a light, completely normal looking breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast, as well as a large mug of coffee prepared the way she liked it. Bleary eyed she drank some of the coffee first and drained half the cup before she even sat down. Casey stared at her partner and the food suspiciously, but tried the food. The eggs were fluffy and light, the bacon not too crisp and the toast was perfect not burnt. In short everything was perfect and she told her partner so.

"I can cook Schraeger." Walsh said with an actual blush.

Her brows draw together as she asked in between bites, "Why don't you cook like this all the time?"

The blush had progressed to the tops of his ears as he replied, "I like to try new things that no one else would think of. I just don't really have time to experiment because of work."

"So you experiment on the customers." she nods in understanding, while taking a bite of her toast. Jason refills her coffee cup with the coffee as she tells him thoughtfully, "You know you should really make the time for what's important to you."

He studied her intently for a moment before agreeing and then handing her a sheet of paper with Grocery List printed at the top in Walsh's blocky style of handwriting. She groaned while laughing, and said, "Ok, I'd say that was a total set up and ok fine groceries…but no chilies and no Skittles. I'll get my purse and call the driver.

"Nope, I saw a small market down the road. I'll go get the groceries. I need the exercise anyway. After all us gold digger types have to stay in shape, you know? Keep our sugar mommas interested," he said, waggling his eyebrows in what he hoped was a suggestive manner and not a totally embarrassing one.

Schraeger laughed, not really a good sign he figured. "Ok but you'll need my credit card," she said helpfully.

"I do own a credit card Casey. Besides you're gonna be busy." He hands her a rather thick file folder from under the counter, he opened the folder to show her that it not only contained the letters from Lawson but also the police report on him as well.

"I know this," Casey says holding the smaller file up, "I wrote it."

He gives her his classic smirk as he goes to the hall closet and comes back carrying his parka. "You wrote some of it Schraeger not the whole thing….you were kind of unconscious for some of it." He pretends to be focused on shrugging the parka on so she doesn't see the dark look in his eyes. "I put the letters in reverse chronological order, newest on top. I thought you might want to check the report against the letters. It might jog something lose.

Reaching under the counter again he says, "Oh by the way, you might want these back to keep an even keel." With a flourish he pulls three high heeled shoes out and sets them on the counter by the folder. While Casey is exclaims in relieved delight, he surreptitiously switches his phone for hers. Pocketing the phone quickly he heads toward the front door of the lodge and reminds her, "Call the driver and see if he can find your earring."

Schraeger nods and waves her hand absently at him as he walks out the door. She was already immersed in the letters that Lawson had sent her.

Keeping to the side of the road, Walsh jogged toward the store he had seen on the way home last night. The signs on the store front were written in several languages including English luckily. The other languages included French which he was able to recognize some of, Italian, what he thought might be German, and another language he didn't recognize at all.

When he got to the store about 20 minutes later, he kicked the snow off of his boots while climbing the wooden stairs. He was already taking his coat off when he entered the small store. He nodded to the elderly woman behind the cash register and said, "Morning." He took the two canvas bags out of the inner pocket of his new jacket and shook them out. He then took the list out and started looking over the selection of goods available, trying to figure out labels as he went. He noticed two men in front of a pot bellied stove playing checkers and said, "Morning," To them as well and smiled as they smiled at him.

He was actually trying to figure out what he was looking at when one of the men got up from the barrel they were using for a checker table and came over to him. He nodded at the man, and indicating the can he was holding asked, "Do you know if this is sardines?"

"Nein, est hering," The older man said helpfully and then searched the shelf. Grabbed out a can with the little fish on the side then said, "Sardines," Before handing the can helpfully to Jason. Jason went on to the next thing on his list and was stumped once more. With a deep chuckle the older man took the list and bag out of Walsh's hand. Then he indicated himself and introduced himself as "Nikolai." Jason introduced himself and tried to retrieve his list

He then shooed Jason off towards the makeshift table with the ongoing checker game and his opponent. Jason looking a little apprehensive walked over to the barrel and shook his would be opponents hand and once again introduced himself. His opponent gave him an understanding smile and indicating himself and said, "Gregor." held up his hand indicating the wedding ring and then indicating the woman behind the counter and said, "Magda. Walsh nodded his head in understanding and began to play checkers.

Jason heard Nikolai and Magda arguing over something and turned to look at the pair. Magda met his gaze and said, "Nikolai wishes to know if it must be white chocolate or if regular chocolate will do?"

"What I have in mind it has to be both milk and white chocolate. Guess you don't have it, huh?" At the older woman's negative response he said, "Guess I'll have to call the driver later after all, it's no problem." he said as he went back to the game. "Too bad you don't have a chess set." A flurry of words between Magda and Gregor, was followed by what was obviously a question from Gregor directed at him.

Magda interpreted, "Do you play chess?"

When Jason admitted he did indeed play, Gregor gave a great whooping cry and jumped up and pulled Jason up off the stool and embraced him as if he were a long-lost relative. Gregor spoke rapid fire German to his wife, who interpreted as fast as she could follow along.

"Thank God! I knew Casey would not abandon me with this oaf of a brother in law. Can you believe it? I have been married to his beautiful, charming, intelligent woman for soon to be 50 years and yet this...Gregor!"

What followed would probably qualify as a domestic dispute between the three elderly folk. But Jason was a few thousand miles out of his jurisdiction and more concerned with the fact this trio all seemed to know Casey. The argument was soon settled and Magda rattled on, "My husband is grateful that Casey has finally brought someone he can play chess with. I play but am usually too busy or too tired to offer him much of a challenge"

Then looking affectionately at Nikolai she said with fond exasperation. My brother doesn't really have a head for the game."

"You all know Casey?" Jason said curiously, a little concerned. This was Schraegers idea of undercover? Then he thought about it and realized no, this was her father and his idea of going incognito. Yep next time he was going to have to listen to her input, preferably before he knocked her out.

Magda was smiling in fond memory as she said, "Casey was my shadow for the first several holidays she and her family came here. They had their parties and so forth, and they would leave her with us. Nikolai is the caretaker for the chalet. We were excited to hear of her return and with a young man. Casey has never been here with a man before."

"Oh, and Gregor wishes to know if you will be able to return tomorrow or the next day to play chess. He is looking forward to enjoying a game with you and perhaps you can bring Casey too. It has been ages since we have seen her. I could make Zurcher Geschnetzeltes, it used to be one of Casey's favorites." said the older Magda in fond memory.

"Maybe in a couple of days, I have to talk it over with Casey." Walsh said while wondering if Siobhan was the only reason that Casey had decided absolutely not to become like Francesca Roth.

"Of course all marriages must be based on cooperation." Magda agreed.

"Oh, we're not married, we're partners." Walsh responded as he suddenly remembered the phone in his pocket. He lifted the phone indicating he had a phone call to make and too distracted to notice the sudden confused babbling between the trio he stepped out on the front porch of the store. He placed a call to Brown and got his voicemail, he left a message including Schraegers number to call back.

When he stepped back into the store his eyes met those of three scowling people. Magda elected as the spokesperson for the group because of her English speaking status scowled and said, "You do not toy with Casey's affections?" When she saw Walsh' thunderstruck expression, she continued in a more gentle tone. "You do plan to marry, the partners is English for betrothed, yes?"

"Uh yes we are partners." he managed distractedly just as the phone started to ring. He indicated that he had to get the phone as he stepped back out onto the porch and after opening the phone and answering with his usual "Walsh."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N-Still a little violence going on and some of pseudo-sexual content. Like I said there is a reason for the T rating folks. Please read, enjoy review, and thanks for the faves and follows as well. **

**Chapter 8**

Casey carried the files into her father's office, there was more room to have it done quickly and easily. Plus her father had thumbtacks, ok he didn't have a bulletin board, but he had thumbtacks. She imagined if she asked her father why he had no bulletin board, what he would probably say that his research teams had the bulletin boards. Her mother who wouldn't know a pun if it bit her, would probably say they would look tacky in his professionally done office. So why did he have thumbtacks, again? Unfortunately Casey thought her Mom would have a coronary if she saw what Casey had in mind to do with the files and the thumbtacks and the nice cherry wood paneled walls.

After she was done laying everything out and tacking up what she needed in her line of sight, she began to read the police report first. She started with the medical examiners report on their supposed first four victims. They were all of different ethnicities, one white, one Asian, one black, and one Hispanic. All were female, between the ages of 19 and 43. All died from multiple stab wounds, but not before they were raped and tortured. There bodies were all found in public areas near where they were kidnapped from, all were left naked and posed rather grotesquely. All of the women had been cleaned with bleach and their belongings had never been found.

Then she re-read her notes and materials on Lawson and the cases. The connections to her had been obvious, unfortunately the evidence had been slim. The fact that Lawson's family were loaded though and Derek Lawson's parents had the police commissioner on speed dial, and an entire high powered law firm at their disposal didn't exactly help matters. The fact that the victims were lower to middle class while not pertinent was leaned on heavily by the lawyers, to Casey's disgust.

Derek Lawson was a 35 year old blond male with green eyes. A graduate of Harvard business school, he had shown very little interest in taking over his fathers conglomerate after graduating. Instead he had traveled extensively for a time before returning to New York about a year prior to the start of the murders. He had not even really been a suspect in the murders until the third victim who had actually filed a restraining order against him had been found dead.

Lia Chen, 43, had been the first victim. She was a professional laundress, owning a small chain of laundromats and dry cleaning shops. Normally as the owner and manager she wouldn't even deal with customers. Lawson had come in to pick up his laundry and had started complaining because a stain had not been removed from his clothes Ms. Chen had come out and explained to him that the did not guarantee they would get the stain out. Lawson had not been satisfied, she had offered him free laundering of whatever clothes he brought in next. Lawson had escalated to insulting racial slurs and acting out, when she had asked him to leave that he was upsetting the other customers. He had thrown things around and the cops had actually been called. Three weeks later Mrs. Chen had not come home from work, her husband had reported her missing. Her body had been found two days later, posed on a park bench.

Matilda Gregory, 32, mother of three, had been next. An RN in a hospital ER, Lawson had apparently been in a drunken altercation, receiving a laceration to his scalp. He had demanded to be seen immediately, his wound while bleeding profusely wasn't deep. However Ms. Gregory had agrees that they would see him as soon as an exam bed became available. Lawson had complained that wasn't good enough and wanted to be seen immediately. When she had explained that they already had patients being seen he had loudly demanded she throw someone else out. It had degenerated again into racial slurs, denigrating anyone else as being trash and so forth. He still being inebriated had taken a swing at Ms. Gregory and security had been called. He had been arrested but his parents had paid his bail and basically his lawyer had gotten him off. Two and a half weeks later, her children had reported her missing. Same MO with the added denigration of sex toys being employed in the staging of the body.

Next had been Rachel Andrews, a clerk at a convenience store. She was 19 and going to night school to become a CPA. She had actually filed a restraining order against Lawson. Apparently Lawson had come into the convenience store to purchase gas and some coffee. He had struck up a conversation with the young woman, she had been friendly enough. Then he had requested a date and she had politely but firmly refused explaining she wasn't interested right now in a relationship. She said he seemed to take t well at the time, but she had been frightened when she had gotten off her shift and he had been waiting for her. He had again asked for a date, this time explaining he wasn't interested in a relationship only a booty call. Once again she had refused and he had responded with don't you know who I am, and introduced himself rather angrily and stupidly. When she had still refused he had tried to force her to give him a blowjob and she had managed to get to her car and get away. The convenience store had video monitoring of the parking lot, and although the video clearly showed Derek Lawson seeming to assault Rachel the detective in charge had said that their wasn't enough evidence to hold him. He had suggested a restraining order however. Her parents reported her missing a week later. Lawson had been brought in on that one and that was when Casey and Walsh had gotten the case.

All they had was circumstantial evidence though, that with Lawson's lawyers and connections had landed them with a whole lot of nothing but trouble. Casey hadn't backed off though, even though initially Walsh wanted to let it go. At least until Casey had found the other two incidents buried in the files. She had been looking into other cases further back in the hope of finding more connections, instead another murder had occurred.

Tia Valdez, 27, a waitress at a rather exclusive restaurant called Manchester's. Her babysitter had called it in when she didn't come home from her second job at another exclusive restaurant in Central Park. There was no actual police report on the incident. The owner manager reported that had to let Tia go when Mr. Lawson had complained that Tia had spilled water on his suit. According to some other witnesses though Lawson had grabbed Tia's butt and when she jumped the water had spilled on Lawson. One of the waiters said that he had followed Tia out to have a smoke while she was leaving after being fired. He claimed to have seen Lawson come out of the shadows of the parking lot and accost her. When he had called out to Tia to see if she had needed help, Lawson had run off and Tia had driven off Further investigation had showed that Lawson had actually gone back to the manager claiming he wished to apologize to the waitress he had been given Ms. Valdez' address. Her body had been found 3 days later in a park she frequently took her five year old son to play in.

Casey had hammered at Lawson in interrogation and the man had basically treated her and Walsh like the hired help. He didn't lawyer up this time but he didn't give them anything they could use. Finally after four hours he declared himself bored and called his lawyer. Casey had mentioned rather carelessly in hind sight to her partner not to worry that she was waiting for some files to arrive from previous residences and school records if there were any unsolved murders fitting the MO of their murderer. Lawson went off, accusing her of harassment and of needing a man to occupy her time, among other things. Several days later she had been kidnapped off the street, chloroform or something similar being used. Walsh was the one who reported her missing because she had been on her way to visit him at his diner, 'The Stage.'

Walsh, Beaumont, and Cole had found her eight hours later.

X X X Flashback Warning X X X

Casey awakened to rough brick walls, her last memories were of just getting off the phone with Walsh and then a shuffling noise behind her, before something hit her in the back of the head. She looked around and found Lawson just withdrawing his head from what appeared to be a very old armoire.

"Detective Schraeger, you're finally awake. I was beginning to think my invitation might have been a tad too forceful." She had finally been able to focus enough to realize that both of her arms were handcuffed to thin metal poles in an old iron bad. Her ankles were restrained to the footboard of the bed with leather restraints. Quickly Lawson lifted a metal rod with cuffs on the end and placed it between her legs and already had one leg buckled in before she started struggling and kicking. "You have spirit, I like that." and then he smashed his fist into her face, stunning her. When she came back to her senses her legs were buckled into the device, a spreader bar. Now he walked over to the bedside table where a syringe lay, Casey had immediately began thrashing again and felt a slight give in the bar her right wrist was handcuffed too. The sudden flash of hope that gave was blasted out of her head by the blond bastard smashing her in the face again. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head sharply to the side exposing her neck to the syringe.

"This is a little cocktail of my own creation, it will keep you awake, make your blood pressure a little higher so you feel more, and well I guess you'll find out the rest soon enough." He said and there was a light in his green eyes that Casey hadn't seen before, a hint of madness." Excuse me a moment my dear while I dispose of this," he said indicating the syringe. He then moved through the green curtain across the room. Her neck throbbing Casey started pulling against the right cuff again and watched as the metal separated slightly at the top.

She heard Lawson pull the curtain aside and come into the room, humming to himself. He stood and gazed at her and said thoughtfully, "What to do, what to do?"

"Well, my father has said repeatedly, and then he mimicked in a haughty tone, "You should always start at the bottom and work your way up." He then walked back over to the armoire, and after a bit of rummaging came back out with a stained foam wedge and a length of chain. Quickly clipping one end to the spreader bar he looped the other end through the foot rail and clipped it through the chain. Then lifting the spreader bar he shoved the foam wedge under her feet elevating them.

Casey tried to struggle but with her feet restrained like this there wasn't much she could do. When Lawson returned to the armoire Casey began to pull at her arm again and saw the bar separate just that much more from the head rail. While he rummaged in the piece of furniture he began speaking to Casey, "You know detective I think you just might become masterpiece, I imagine you were worth the wait. You and your lover were very discrete, but I doubt even he knows that you're missing yet."

Casey's brow wrinkled as she continued to struggle to get the bar to separate from the rest of the bed. 'Lover, what lover?' she thought. She was trying to come up with a plan for after she got the bar separated from the bed but her mind was getting fuzzy and her skin felt as if it were on fire. She felt herself beginning to gasp for breath, her heart was racing.

"Ah good, my creation is beginning to work, this should be very interesting to see." Lawson said conversationally. Casey looked up and shivered in horror, in one hand Lawson had a cane about three and a half feet long in the other he held a riding crop. He was looking between the two as if trying to make a decision. Casey began to struggle in earnest not caring if he saw her or not.

Having made his decision Lawson leaned the cane against the bedside table and then pulled a knife out of the drawer and placed it on top of the table.

Going back to the foot of the bed, Lawson said, "This might sting a bit my dear," With that Lawson raised the crop…

X X X End Flashback X X X

Casey was shocked out of the flashback by a stack of papers falling into her lap. The chair she had been sitting in bumped against them enough to cause the small avalanche. Gratefully she went to the court transcripts, Walsh was right there was stuff in here she hadn't seen before.

xxxxxxxxx

The judge had refused to listen to any of the other evidence they had collected against Lawson and despite their repeatedly trying to accuse her of harassing their client, the D.A reminded everyone that Casey had not knocked herself out, taken herself to Lawson's "dungeon", although that's what he and his lawyer claimed.

They had even tried to claim that the knife wound in her back had been where they were trying out a little experimentation in blood play and that Casey had jerked and the knife had slipped. He claimed that the bruises on him were not from Casey fighting back, but her own foray into being the dominant.

The judge hadn't fallen for that and luckily neither had the jurors. Especially when it came out in the trial that he had been kicked so hard in the balls that he had actually lost a testicle and the other was so badly damaged it was doubtful he would ever father children.

Funny thing she really didn't remember kicking him in the balls. She didn't even recall that being brought up at the trial but then she had not fully recovered when the trial had started and was on the really good meds. She had tried to go without them during the trial until Walsh had figured out what she was doing and threatened to come over to her house and force feed the drugs to her before each court appearance. There were a few other details she had missed from the trial but nothing else she considered pertinent

Casey made a note to re-contact those people who had been looking into Lawson's previous residences for her. After he had been put away for the attempted murder of a cop, the follow-up had fallen through the cracks. They had thought he would be in prison for quite a bit longer than three years.

There was an attached note to the trial information that stated he was being released on good behavior. Great so they could inform the judiciary but not the victim, wonderful. Several commendations from various prison personnel and the state appointed psychiatrist were also included. A note stated that the documents had been presented to the three person parole board. Their names were David Wilkins, Sally Newton, and Ian Franks.

Trying to read Walsh's report was like trying to decipher, Sanskrit. True his handwriting was honestly, pretty bad, but at least it was usually legible. This was…actually giving her a headache, it was almost deliberately illegible. She decided to 1) ask him what the hell his report said and 2)talk to him about taking penmanship classes.

Cole's handwriting on the other hand was perfect and his report was a PG 13, watered down but very professional report of the events after they had found Casey and again it was pretty much useless. Getting frustrated and having by this time developed a full blown headache, Casey began rummaging in her fathers desk for some painkillers. She finally found some in the back of one of the drawers as well as an old picture of her parents and she when she was about 10. It was here and had been taken by the caretaker of the three of them in happier times. Needing the boost Casey tacked up the photo and went to get herself something to drink to take the pills with.

Casey refilled her coffee, took the painkillers with a few sips from a bottle of water, took a bathroom break while she was out of the office, and determinedly headed back to the office.

Hoping to get a fresh start Casey decided to forego reading Beaumont's report and head straight to Lawson's letters to her. Since Walsh had placed the letters in reverse chronological order Casey read them that way. She imagined her partner had done this in the hopes that the more recent letters might provide more timely information. Casey read the last months letters, and was certain he was taunting her with veiled and little hints. As usual his arrogance made him certain that neither she nor her coworkers in the department would figure out those clues until it was too late

Casey did not find any clue to his plans, she snorted as that thought crossed her mind. "Fancy that," she thought to herself, "a criminal who doesn't blab his plans to the cop he's obsessing over in the letters he sends her, go figure." However she did find mention of a friend "Rothschild" as well as the "current apple of his eye" helping him to fly to Casey's side.

Casey began to read the next letter previous when the sound of the front door crashing open, startled Schraeger so badly that the files went flying. Casey scrambled for a weapon and had just lifted a stapler from the desk drawer when she heard Walsh yelling her name frantically. "Casey! CASEY!"

Dropping the stapler back on top of the desk with a sigh of relief, Schraeger walked to the office door and called, "I'm here Walsh, what's wrong?"

Jason looking a bit wild eyed rushed forward and grabbed her pulling her into his arms, He gasped a little to catch his breath and she asked, "Did you run the whole way? I told you…"

"No, Nikolai brought me. Casey they released Lawson early. They were afraid there would be a media and public backlash for paroling him…." He said still a little breathless and still holding her tight,


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"So they let him out early…yeah that makes sense," Casey snarked. Hearing her react in typical Schraeger fashion made Jason smirk, and relax a little. The sound of stomping feet at the door had the pair look up as Nikolai carried in one of the bags of groceries. Jason grabbed the bag from him, as Casey gave him a warm hug and spoke with him for a few minutes in fluent German

She looked over at her partner when he brought in the last of the groceries. "Making friends are we? So are we having dinner with the Klums and Nikolai tomorrow or the next day? He says according to the weather reports a blizzard is supposed to set in after that, so it will have to be in the next couple of days." Casey was pleased when Jason actually thought about it for a few seconds and said, "Day after tomorrow, we already have dinner plans for tomorrow."

Casey raised an eyebrow, but passed along the request to Nikolai who gave the young woman a warm smile and left the pair, Schraeger closed the door behind the older man and turned to find Jason in her personal space. "Why are you so calm about this?"

"Walsh we're in Switzerland, not like he's gonna come looking here for me, now is it? By the way I need you to come and interpret these notes of yours later. Did you take up some foreign language or something while I was in the hospital. Seriously." With that she headed back to the office, not seeing Walsh grimace at the mention of his report.

Casey began gathering up papers and sorting them back into their appropriate files when she saw something that caught her attention, she picked up the two pages that had fallen right beside each other. Standing up she walked back out of the office to where her partner was putting some groceries away and leaving others out for dinner. "Walsh, do you remember "The Da Vinci Code?"

"Sure Hanks was pretty good in that one, why?" He said looking at her a little perplexed.

"Yeah I read the book, but anyway," She laid the two papers side-by-side on the counter and said, "Tell me what you see?" On the one paper was the parole board notes, the other was the fax of the letter Lawson had sent Casey. Casey had highlighted the reference to friend Rothschild and the statement about the apple of his eye helping him to fly to Casey's side. He looked back and forth several times before he saw it. He looked up at his partner eyes wide and said, "I think you need to make a phone call." He slid her own phone across the counter to her.

Xxxxxxxxx

Casey called Brown and informed him of the possible connection between the parole board member and Lawson. At first he was livid with Walsh for keeping potential evidence out of circulation as it were. He said he would wait until they got back to the States before he gave Walsh the dressing down he felt he deserved though. In the mean time he said he would send a car to Newton's address to pick her up for questioning.

Jason, after a great many reassurances from Schraeger and finally just an exasperated, "Get out of here." did finally go into town to pick up the last few items on his grocery list. Not before he made her a light lunch of pasta salad with chicken, mushrooms and black olives though. He then extracted the promise from her that she would take a nap while he was gone. She called the car service while he gathered the remainder of the papers and returned them to the desk. He studied the photo of Casey for a moment, her winsome smile in the picture making him smile in turn. While Casey finished her lunch, Walsh went around the chalet making sure that all of the doors and windows were securely latched and bolted. The car arrived just as Casey finished her lunch, taking the bowl from her he ran the hot water in it, grabbed his jacket and said, "Go to bed, I'll be back soon." and kissed her on the forehead before rushing out the door. It was actually several minutes later before either of them realized what he had done.

Xxxxxxxxx

Casey had never been good at following orders, especially when they came from her partner. She went back to studying more of the letters, found more references to Rothschild. Then when she was nearly to the first letter, Casey discovered something else, she read:

"My dearest Ms. Schraeger," (where she checked the earliest they had read Schraeger and the ones after were Casey).

"Why did you never mention your heritage before? If I had known you were one of us I never would have laid hands on you. In my defense you were very convincing , I assume this is a rebellious phase against your parents. I must admit I never would have guessed if not for Rothschild my friend has been most informative and surprisingly an apt pupil at one time. I think they have abandoned the lessons they earned at my side.

We still maintain a surprisingly close friendship but you and I could have something very special. I look forward to the things that I could teach you my dear Casey. May I call you Casey? I wish you could respond to my letters however I understand you must maintain a certain level of propriety…" The letter rambled on from there and didn't really offer any more obviously useful information. Casey finished reading the letters again without finding anything useful in the remaining ones. By that time her eyes were a bit gritty and Casey decided maybe Walsh wasn't all that far off in his advice. Stifling a yawn and wincing slightly, she stood and gathered everything back up and put it in its appropriate file folders.

Schraeger trudged out of her fathers office making sure to pull the door closed behind her. Making herself a sandwich and a glass of milk, then she found the sardines in mustard sauce and did a little bit of a happy dance in the kitchen. Jason had found a whole stack of the tins of fish in her kitchen cabinets. His look of horror had made her giggle and just to irk him, she had proceeded to eat an entire tin in front of him. "So you have the nerve to say my cooking is terrible but you can eat that!" he said indicating the fish with a disturbed look on his face.

"What I love these!" Casey said plaintively as she continued to slurp the little fish down as if they were a delicacy. "If you say so Schraeger." He had said in mock resignation.

Casey went back to the cabinet to see two more cans of the spicy packed fish obviously recent purchases, and they triggered a few memories. Casey had been looking for something in the pantry of Walsh's diner and had found two of the tins of fish, she had noticed he had started stocking the fridge with her preferred liquid creamer. She knew for a fact that he kept one of her hair bands in his pocket for days when the temperature went up unexpectedly as was wont to happen in the city. Then she thought about her own bag, she had a tin of Jason's favorite mints, a handkerchief, cause Walsh hated using tissue when his allergies were acting up, and a tiny bottle of carefully secured tobasco sauce. "God's we're married without the benefits."

**X X X Flashback Begins X X X**

"Trust me Casey," said Allison with a smirk. "If you haven't had an orgasm the past four times that you and Davis have had sex. He is definitely not doing something right, …maybe not doing anything right." she said as she took off her dressier court blouse and changed into her more comfortable work blouse.

"I know that, I've known that for a while. Every time I bring up changing things up or changing the routine though, he accuses me of wanting to be the man in the relationship."

"Huh, no that's bullshit. You don't want to be the man, you just want to be the equal from the sounds of it and Davis can't handle that, its time to kick him to the curb." Beaumont said as she removed her earrings and started brushing her hair back into her more severe work style. Then added, "Past time I'd say. You need to find a new man."

"Yeah I think your right." Casey said thoughtfully, then looking over at the other woman she bit her lip and said cautiously, "Allison can I ask you something?"

"You just did?" the other woman wisecracked. Then seeing the serious expression on Casey's face, she said, "Sure, go ahead."

"It's kinda personal."

"Casey, we've been talking about orgasms or lack thereof. Don't really think you can get more personal than that."

Blowing out a nervous breath Casey asked, "Why did you and Walsh break up?"

The tightening around Allison's eyes was not a good sign but instead of losing her temper the other woman moved a little closer to Casey and said softer, "Why do you ask?"

Casey considered her words while listening for other officers in the locker room. Hearing no one else she said also softer, "Was just wondering if it was you know similar to Davis and me?"

Allison gave a choked laugh of shock before shaking her head as she replied, "No, no nothing like that, trust me. Walsh is…very good in bed, …very generous…., no trust me it was nothing like that." she said as she clipped her holster back on.

"Then why?" Casey asked her cop instincts coming to the fore. "Why did you break up with him?"

Allison replied, "Cause I was tired of being the stand in for someone else." she said before slamming her locker closed and leaving the locker room.

**X X X End Flashback X X X**

Jason came in and woke her up later, telling her, "Come keep me company, I'm making some pasta salad, that is if you haven't filled up on sardines." Casey told him to give her a few minutes, she grabbed some clothes and went in the bathroom. Casey jumped in the shower and rinsed off the last vestiges of sleep. Brushed her teeth and got dressed in a long sleeved tee, jeans and long woolen socks. Walking into the kitchen, she made them both a cup of coffee and for her a glass of water as well. She watched as he chopped canned chicken, olives and mushrooms. He mixed it in with the already cooked rotini. Quickly mixing in an alfredo sauce he had made himself. Casey jumped up and retrieved the large bowl of salad she had seen on the counter as well as the two bowls beside it.

They had the salad in silence as they waited for the pasta salad to cool a little.

Then Walsh dipped the pasta into the salad bowls and said, "So find out anything else from the letter?"

Caseys eyes shot up to meet her partners, "How did you…"

"Face it Schraeger," he said knowingly, "I know you. You're a cop. Sides you are the one who said she would solve this." He said taking a generous bite of the pasta.

"Yeah well didn't find out much more. Just more mentions of the Rothschild character. Oh yeah and apparently he didn't know I was _that _Schraeger till late last year. Interestingly it was apparently Rothschild who told him."

"Huh," said Walsh with his brows furrowed in thought, "so you think this Rothschild is like a reporter or someone who knows your family."

Casey shrugged, "Could be either one, but I kind of doubt its like a friend of my family. They don't exactly advertise that I'm a cop."

"Yeah, I kind of got that." He said studying her for a minute. "So someone who knows you and the guy who tried to kill you, passing along information about you to him. That's a) either someone who doesn't believe he actually did it, b)someone who is very loyal to him for some reason…"

"Or c) someone who really doesn't like me much."

"Or d) someone who's really naïve." said Walsh as he topped off their coffee. Then paused as he said thoughtfully, "Or e) someone who's in on it. You read the forensics report right?"

"Part of it…" seeing his raised eyebrows, she said, "What, I had a mishap with the papers and trying to read your handwriting. For which I am enrolling you in penmanship and English courses when we get back. Cause I'm sorry but whatever that was you were writing, it was not English." This time she didn't miss the flinch he gave at the mention of his report. "What?"

"Hmm… nothing. Just thinking, ok did you read the part that was attached that compared the weapons used in the four previous murders?"

Casey's nose wrinkled adorably as she thought back and she said, "Nope don't remember seeing that."

Jason trying to forget that he thought Casey's nose wrinkling was adorable said, "According to the molds they took of the wound tracks, the murderer used three different knifes on the women. Apparently each one was used at different times during the torture, we only found one of them when we found you. That knife wasn't one that made the killing wounds on the other women. We never did find the other two knifes or the trophies or clothing from the other women."

"You know," Casey began when "Rocketman" began blaring from her phone. "Really Walsh. Again?" she said glaring at him as she reached for her phone. "You have got to stop messing with my phone." She clicked the answer key and said, "Schraeger."

"Schraeger, I was expecting Walsh to answer. Doesn't matter," said Brown, "Listen we have some bad news on the Newton woman. They found her in her apartment, she's dead. Murdered. M.O's similar enough to let us know it was probably the same perp as the previous murders, but different enough we can't just haul Lawson in without his lawyers screaming harassment and slapping the department with a lawsuit. The bastards laughing at us and there's not a damn thing we can do about it."

"Hold on," Casey said before passing on the information to her partner. Walsh expression became thunderous and he began muttering profanity under his breath as she went back to the phone call. "Had a thought sir, has anyone been back to the basement. Lawson would have had the other knifes he used somewhere there. You know he had no intention of just letting me go after and its not like he could ask someone to go to his murder room and remove evidence. Its there well hidden but there. If he has kept with his M.O. he would have had to go back there to get his tools right?"

Casey glanced up to see Walsh with a strange look in his eyes, She gave him a little smile while listening to Brown agree with her way of thinking. He told her, "It might be a little bit of a challenge to get a warrant but with this new murder I think I can swing it. I'll call you later, let you know what we find, if anything. Cole and Beaumont are working a string of robberies, or I'd put them on it. I'll have Banks and Delahoy look at it with fresh eyes and the crime scene photos when we get the warrant." After a warning to "Stay safe." their superior hung up and Casey looked at her phone and then at her partner before saying, "Rocketman, really?"

Walsh merely smirked at his partner, as she shook her head and proceeded to remove the ringtone from Browns contact information.

Xxxxxxxxx

The next day Walsh warned Casey to stay away from the kitchen but after a light breakfast they decided to do a little sight seeing in town. They had a light lunch, did a little window shopping, watched some children playing and helped build a snow man in the local park,

On the way back to the chalet, she noticed Walsh making little notes on some index cards, and she smiled to herself. He had been up early working quietly in the kitchen, trying not to wake her. Casey had always been a light sleeper though and sat awake in her room listening to Walsh hum. As he moved around in the other room and Casey was stunned by how natural everything seemed between them here.

When they finally got back to the house, he had her help him set up the small café table, a small table cloth and candle along with some of the finer silverware and napkins were set up. Walsh had actually managed to hang sheets around the kitchen to kind of cordon it off from the rest of the open space. He ducked behind and after a few minutes returned with a pair of salad bowls and wearing the frilliest apron Casey had ever seen in this decade. He put the two bowls down with a flourish before reaching into the pocket of his apron and removing a bottle of red sauce and shaking it vigorously, he then poured a light coating of the dressing over the salad.

The salad had a mix of greens, walnuts, chopped squash and the sauce. The combination of ingredients was light, yet hardy and totally complex, "Fantastic."

Casey said as she continued to eat the wonderful salad. Walsh smiled in relief and ate some of his own before the buzz of the timer on the stove went off. Walsh jumped up like an eager kid and started to trot back into the kitchen before he realized he still held the bottle of vinagrette, he whirled and said, "Do you want more?" she smiled and shook her head. "Ok good, good." he said and Casey had never seen him so nervous and excited at the same time, as he ducked under the makeshift curtain.

She giggled a little and had to suppress another little laugh as there was a quiet curse from the other side of the curtain that she was rather sure meant Jason had just scalded himself a bit on something. Casey watched as Walsh propped the curtain open so that he could come through with the two plates of food. The smell was heavenly and Jason explained, "This is breaded stuffed chicken with mushroom ravioli in a creamy vino sauce." Casey wasn't watching the food this time she was watching Jason's face and her stomach wasn't grumbling in hunger it was dancing with butterflies. Then Allison's voice replayed in Caseys head, "I was tired of being the stand in for someone else".

Casey looked down quickly before Walsh could see her eyes. He could always see her secrets like they were written on her face in bold letters. She didn't want him to see that she wished that she was the one he was substituting Allison for. Pulling herself together Casey looked at her partner and her mouth watered, over the food, not the man serving it, at least that's what she told herself as she complimented him again,

When they finished the main course, Jason said, "I hope you saved room for dessert." Then gathering the dirty dishes he said, "We're having lasagna."

Caseys' squeaked cry of "What?" had him laughing that raspy laugh of his. He brought out two servings of what looked like lasagna but smelled divine. He pulled his chair closer to her as he set the plate in front of her.

The dessert really did look like a portion of lasagna, Jason explained how he had made it as he cut a portion carefully and actually got ready to feed it to her. "The 'noodles' are made of white chocolate, the 'meat' is milk chocolate, the 'tomatoes' are actually strawberry preserves, and the 'ricotta' is actually a cream cheese mixture. I hope you like it."

She watched as his hands shook slightly as he directed the morsel to her mouth.

"He is nervous about whether I will like the dessert." Casey smiled and holding his hand steady she reassured, "Jason I'm a woman. Me liking chocolate is pretty much a given ." She slid the food off the fork and let the flavors combine on her tongue.

Casey was embarrassed to admit that the sound she made over Jason's dessert was more vocal than she had ever been with any of her sex partners _ever_.

She opened her eyes to find Jason staring at her lips, thinking she might have some of the dessert on them Casey licked her lips delicately.

Jason's cheeks flushed and dropping the fork on the table, he leaned forward and his mouth connected with hers. His tongue lapped along her lips until they parted on a gasp. His tongue chased the taste of chocolate and raspberry around her mouth. He took one of her hands in his own and placed it over his heart, before clasping her head in both of his hands to deepen the kiss.

The strains of "Major Tom" suddenly started playing from the table and Jason groaned, "Don't answer."

"Its Brown," she gasped against his very talented mouth. Pulling back as that mouth continued along her jaw line to her ear as she picked up the phone and struggled to remember how to use the device for a moment.

"Schraeger," she said breathlessly into the phone.

"We've got the bastard, Schraeger." Brown said into the phone. Casey's heart stopped and she stiffened in Walsh's arms. He drew back to stare at her pensive face as she said, "You caught Lawson?!"

"Sorry," Brown said, "no. I meant when we catch him, he'll be going down for murder. We found his cache of trophies. Apparently he went to get the knives and didn't bother to close it back when he left the basement. Banks and Delahoy found it within ten minutes of entering the basement. We're getting a warrant now for his arrest. The clothes have the blood on them even if we don't have the knives. Congratulations Schraeger, you got him."

Casey was passing the information on to Walsh who had an expression of pride on his face. Brown asked her to let him talk to Walsh for a minute and she handed the phone to him before going to make them cups of coffee to got with the dessert. When she came back Jason was back on his side of the table, the phone was hung up and back on her side of the table. When she placed the coffee beside his arm on the table, he said "Thank you." In a perfectly polite and perfectly hollow tone of voice and he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What the hell?" Casey thought to herself. "What happened between the kiss and the coffee?" Studying her partner Casey said carefully, "Walsh what did Brown say to you after I gave you the phone?"

"Hmm," he said absently as he ate the last of the dessert from his plate. "Oh nothing he just wanted me to let you know that he was very proud of you. So am I. You said you were going to break this case and you did." Standing abruptly he started gathering up dirty dishes while he said, "Tell you what I 'll clean up here, Take the curtains down, that sort of thing. Why don't you go take a nice hot shower or whatever and get to bed early. We still have dinner with Magda, Gregor and Nikolai tomorrow." He reminded her before disappearing behind the curtain.

Casey stood on wobbly legs as her throat constricted, and made her way to her bedroom. She closed the door securely behind her before she let the tears fall and managed to keep the sobs so quiet she didn't think Walsh would be able to hear her through the thick walls of the lodge.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N-Ok thanks to ladygris for keeping me in-line and on track. Hope everyone will enjoy this. Warning is for language and post solo sexual situation. Please read, review and enjoy**

**Chapter 10**

Jason Walsh was a complete and total idiot. He was running in eight inches of snow in snow boots and a parka. He was running along side a stream, in an overgrown area he had only traveled on a couple of times, and could very easily get lost in. He was running in rapidly dropping temperatures because a blizzard was coming in just a few hours He was running from a lodge with a fireplace, a warm bed, and a woman who he really wanted to explore the warmth of….if he wasn't such a complete and total idiot.

They had barely started on exploring each other, a kiss that had desire him more than any sexual encounter he'd ever had before, and it was just a kiss. Barely touching, just a kiss, then there was the phone call from Brown.

A conversation between his chief and himself. The conversation that had doused his arousal faster than a few hundred gallons of ice water and a snow bank. They had found Casey's shirt from that night and apparently Lawson when he went to retrieve the knives had also taken the time to pleasure himself using Casey's shirt. How did they know it wasn't from three years ago? It was still sticky.

The bastards obsession with Casey had been disturbing him for a while now, the letters added a new layer of creepiness. This latest bit though, once again made him want to take Casey as far away as possible. Only her own reminder that there was no way the bastard could possibly know where they were was keeping him from doing just that. That and the fact that she would probably kick his ass this time, if he tried that stupidity again.

Damn Casey was getting to be a Grade A detective, short of catching Lawson she had practically solved this case. He had a funny feeling if she hadn't been kidnapped by Lawson and been recovering during the trial she probably would have solved it. It was too bad her parents would never know or at least never Tell Casey what a great cop Casey was. He wondered if they ever told her they were proud of her. She had tried to hide it, how much it hurt that her parents didn't acknowledge her chosen profession. She was a good actress but she still had a few tells.

Of course sobbing into her pillow for two hours last night because he had acted like a complete and total idiot and dick wasn't really a tell. It was a screaming banshee with a rusty spoon trying to carve his heart right out of his chest. The sharp pain in his side made him stop in his tracks gasping for breath. He bent over, his hands on his knees, as he pondered how in the hell he was going to make this right with Casey.

He decided to for once be completely honest with himself. _**Casey was hot. **_He had known that when he first met her. The outfit she had been wearing when they first met was something that still played in several of his favorite fantasies.

_**Casey was smart.**_ This follow up to Lawson's case pretty much proved that. Casey had others doing a lot of the legwork, but she had solved it all on her own.

The fact that she had put both him and Lawson on their respective asses. Plus survived the murdering psychopaths attack proved that _**Casey was tough.**_

If it hadn't been for that damned phone call, he would have pursued that kiss. The kiss that had melted his last reservations about pursuing a relationship with Casey Schraeger.

Relationship hell, that kiss had proved without doubt, _**he was in love with Casey. **_He was also pretty sure that she was in love with him. He doubted very much_ you_ cried for two hours over someone you didn't love. Hell to his knowledge Casey had never cried over Davis, or any of her other recent love interests. She had whined, complained, and so on but never cried at least not in his presence.

Of course the crying brought him back to the part where he was a complete and total idiot. Yeah it bore repeating… _a lot. _Finally catching his breath and sighing he stood up and caught sight of a flash of purple in the distance.

Beside a pair of snowmobiles, a woman wearing a purple ski hat and gray ski suit with purple accents was talking to a blond male in a navy blue ski suit and white headband. Well talking actually looked more like arguing and you could tell that Headband was clearly getting annoyed, even with the sunglasses covering most of his face. Then he got in the woman's face and ripped off his sunglasses to make a point.

It couldn't be! Walsh moved forward to get a closer look, not remembering the iced over stream he had been running beside. He fell through the ice into the slushy water underneath. He caught his breath before he went under and that was all the thinking he had time for. Instinct took over as daggers of numbing cold stabbed into his body and his brain, threatening to steal his breath. His will to survive caused him to reach up to the half light and begin to kick sluggishly but with increasing desperation. Finally breaking through the thin ice and dragging himself up onto the bank. He looked over to where he vaguely remembered the pair being but they and their snowmobiles were gone.

He had to get warm and fast, shelter someplace. The store was probably closer but since he wasn't exactly sure where he was he had no way of knowing how to get there from here, he was screwed. He would have to try and get back to the lodge and hope that he might come across someone before he actually got back to the lodge.

Keep your core warm the rest will take care of itself, a voice in his head said. Wrapping his arms around his middle he started slogging back the way he had come. Luckily the wind hadn't picked up too much so he could follow the tracks he had made without much trouble. Everything was burning almost, stinging needles over his entire body. He tried running to get his circulation moving a little faster. He figured he had gotten a hundred yards or so when the numbness in his feet caused him to stumble and go down hard in the snow. Winded he lay there for a few minutes, another voice less practical but just as insistent, said "Get up you ass, Casey is waiting on you. You damn well owe her an apology, and you will deliver." Getting up was hard his clothes in those few moments had frozen stiff on him. He beat himself to break the ice and to try and start his blood pumping.

He didn't try running again, at least not full out. He would jog for a bit and then walk. Jason was aware enough to became concerned when he noticed he was starting to loose the trail. At first he thought the wind was covering it but he backtracked and stumbled across it, he then noticed it was a lot dimmer than he remembered it being when he had left. He started walking again and felt his heart rate increase a little from sudden fear. Was it that late, had he been running for that long? He looked up to see if he could determine how late it was, and realized what was going on. The clouds were stacked up and moving in very fast, the blizzard was moving in and earlier than had been predicted.

Determined Walsh pushed himself, he couldn't jog anymore, he tried but his body continued to stagger along at the same pace. Then the snow began to fall, he could feel the fat, wet flakes as they hit the top of his head. Walsh ignored it following the trail of his own footprints. An odd scent was tickling his nose, making him want to sneeze, before his increasingly sluggish mind registered what he was smelling. Wood smoke! His eyes rose to see the roof of the lodge through the trees.

He pushed himself forward, he had to get to the lodge…had to get warm and dry…had to…what did he have to do…he couldn't remember…it had something to do with Casey…what was it….apologize…yeah wait was that it…

He followed the wall, leaning against it for support, till it came to the steps to the porch. Lifting his legs to climb the steps was an agony of acid and needles. Trying to grip the railing to help pull himself up was useless, his hands wouldn't work. He fell tripping on the second to the top step and crawled from there to the door, he tried to knock or pound on the door but couldn't put the force behind it. Pushing himself up the door was more painful but less difficult than any of the other options. Using both hands and his last five functioning brain cells Walsh managed to twist the door knob and nearly fell in the door he had been leaning against. Walsh managed to stay upright just barely.

He heard Casey moving around behind the curtain in the kitchen, she was saying something. Magda…blizzard….dinner…door…JASON!

Xxxxxxxxx

Casey walked out of her room in her pajama bottoms, thick wool socks, tank and robe. "Walsh, we need to talk," she said to the curtain, "weren't you gonna take this down." When there was no answer Casey flipped the curtain aside. The kitchen was spotless, everything was in its place. Everything that is except Walsh and the curtain/ She stepped further into the kitchen and checked for a note on the fridge or something, but there was nothing. There had been nothing on her night stand like there had been the day before. Maybe he's still in his room, she turned on her heel and walked back out to head down to his room. Jason's door was open and when she knocked on it, it creaked open to reveal his empty unmade bed. She glance around to see if a note was maybe left in here, nope no note.

She supposed it was possible he had gone to the store again to stock up for the blizzard. Though Casey imagined that with the supplies they had stored they'd be fine for a couple of weeks.

Casey shrugged and went back to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She had overslept, and woke with a splitting headache. As the coffeemaker dripped she went back to her room and retrieved two of the pain relievers. She dry swallowed the pills and started her morning rituals. Coming back out wearing a cowl neck sweater, jeans and carrying her boots. Setting the boots by the loveseat, Casey started mixing the batter for pancakes. She got some butter, syrup and juice out of the fridge. Quickly she made herself a cup of coffee, and a glass of juice before she flipped the pancakes, then grabbed a plate and served herself. Taking the pan off the burner, she decided to wait till Jason got back to try and make his breakfast or to take the curtain back down.

As she ate Casey made a plan of action, a) check the stock see if there was anything they needed, b) if there was pick it up when they went to dinner with the Klum's and Nikolai. She decided she would wait to take the curtain until Walsh got back, c)firewood would have to be brought up and in. d) she should probably start a fire too. Even with the central heat and air it was becoming rather chilly in the lodge. After that well they still had the dinner tonight so they'd have to see.

As Casey went through her tasks of things to do, and the hours went by Casey began to get concerned.

She figured that Walsh had gone out running, it was his thing when he needed to think, unwind, or clear his head. She didn't know how running could do all of those things, but for Jason it did. Once during one of their many conversations at the Stage, she had called it Jason's Zen thing. When he had asked her what her Zen thing was, she admitted that she didn't have a Zen thing yet.

She carried the wood in off the porch, stacking it by the fireplace, next to the kindling and then went out to the shed to get more firewood to stack on the porch. On her fifth trip to the shed she had the strangest sensation of someone watching her. She hoped Walsh wasn't being funny, trying to spook her but when she looked around she didn't see anyone. She did notice that the formerly cloudy day Had now started to darken noticeably. So she moved a little faster to get as much of the firewood as she could closer to the house. She had just finished piling a stack of firewood as high as she could reach, when she heard her phone ring. Finally maybe Jason had finally decided to call.

Closing the door behind her she scooted into the kitchen forgetting to take her boots off by the door. She answered the phone and began unzipping the boots at the same time.

"Hello?" she said into the phone as she struggled with her wet boots.

"Casey?" It is Magda, I am afraid the storm is moving in much faster than was predicted. We shall have to postpone our dinner til later in the week perhaps. Gregor and Nikolai wanted me to ask if you and Jason are set for firewood and supplies?"

A frisson of real fear went down Casey's spine, Casey had assumed that Walsh had gone to the store and possibly gotten caught up in a chess game with Gregor. Now she knew he wasn't there and hadn't been there today from the sounds of it.

"Casey did you hear me?" the older woman repeated with concern.

"Yes we should be fine, I just bought the firewood up and we have enough supplies laid in we should be good for a couple of weeks." Casey replied.

"Oh I hope not that long but I am glad you are set liebchien. I will call regularly to check on the two of you. Nikolai will be staying with us since we have the generator and he has his snow cat here if something happens."

They chatted for a few more minutes as Casey put her boots by the door, cleaned up the mess she had made going to the kitchen. As she clicked the phone off she went to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. Trying as she did not to worry about Jason, then she heard the tapping at the window as the snow started to fall and the panic started setting in.

She caught herself staring at the coffee maker again a few minutes later. Then she heard the front door slam open and relief flooded her before she remembered she was angry with Walsh. "Magda called and said the blizzard is coming in earlier then predicted obviously. So they wanted to postpone dinner." When he still hadn't answered her or closed the front door Casey finally turned away from the coffee pot and walked toward the curtain and living room beyond. "Hey are you gonna close the door or what?" Then she got sight of the wet frozen form just as it fell to the living room floor. "JASON!

Casey ran to the fallen man, skidding the last couple of feet in her thick woolen socks before landing on her knees, at his side. She turned Jason on his back, shocked at his frozen clothes and the ice crystals in his hair. She wasn't sure he could hear her but she spoke to him anyway, as she determinedly began to strip him out of his wet and frozen clothes. "What did you do you idiot?" Removing his jacket caused her to break out in a sweat of effort as she manhandled him out of the sleeves. She realized she was crying again and oh lord was she ever going to stop doing that in front of this man? "Walsh we're going to have to talk about how you get these arms in those skinny sleeves."

Casey unlaced his boots, growling in frustration with the saturated and icy laces, luckily the sodden socks nearly came off with them. She realized the door was still standing open and ran to push it closed before dropping the boots and sodden socks beside it. It had taken her far too long to get just his jacket and boots off, and he was still filly clothed except for his socks. Then she remembered something and ran back to the kitchen, nearly ripping the makeshift curtain down in her haste.

After rummaging through a couple of kitchen drawers, nearly yanking one out in frustration she finally pulled out a set of kitchen shears in triumph. Then she went to the curtains and with a fierce yank she snapped the cord they were hanging across and dragged the sheets with her back into the living room.

"So you know I was thinking after this little disaster, we are definitely going to have to go on another shopping trip." She said conversationally as she cut off the sweater and then the long sleeved tee he had been wearing under the jacket. Turning him on his side she yanked the wet material out from under him, only to begin rubbing his chest briskly with the sheet. "You're thrilled yeah I know. You love being my G.I. Joe, complete with tattoos and scars." She said tracing her hand gently over the areas in question and noticing the continued iciness in the skin. She stopped exploring and took up the shears again. Cutting the jeans and long underwear off first. "Wow should have known you'd have nice legs too. Baseball and everything. How come you never play with the department team, or would that be kind of cheating, you having been a pro and all." She continued talking as she once more rolled Walsh to get the thawing but still soaked material out from under his lower body. Briskly she started rubbing his legs with the sheets, knowing she should cut off his boxers next. She continued what she hoped was a blood stimulating scrubbing of the sheet over Walsh's torso and legs for a few more minutes before she decided she cared and respected her partner a little too much to remove the boxers. If they _were_ going to go anywhere from that kiss, and right now that was a mighty big if, then they were going to do it when they were both sober, both awake and neither was wounded, rebounding, or potentially dying.

"Ok enough with the moralizing and on to the saving from frostbite and hypothermia." She said before she wrapped him up securely in the sheet and then dragged the cocoon wrapped Walsh towards her parents room. Their bathroom had a spa tub, heated floors and a heating rack for towels.

Turning on the heated floor, and towel racks, Casey was tempted to turn on the heated water full blast, especially since she had gotten pretty drenched herself just getting Jason undressed. She remembered something about frozen plasma crystals cutting up red blood cells and capillaries and veins when the blood was heated up too quickly though. So she pulled Jason into the tub, removing the sodden sheet as they went, Yanking her parents terry cloth robes out of the closet, she brought them into the bathroom and laid her fathers out on the floor. She ran back to both of their bedrooms, got a clean set of undies and pajamas for herself, and another set of boxers, a pair of sweats and a long sleeved t-shirt and woolen socks for Walsh. She stripped down to her own underwear, tossing her own damp clothes in a corner, before turning on the lukewarm water in the tub. She climbed into the tub with Jason. While the water began to fill the tub she started examining his skin, although still uncomfortably chilly she didn't see any obviously waxy sections that indicated that frost bite had set in. Of course, never having seen frostbite first hand she wasn't certain she would know it if she saw it.

Sighing she said rather sadly, "I'm glad you can't see this right now. You'd probably be convinced I was trying to drown you." Carefully she lifted his head and placed it on her lap, before realizing rather quickly that his hair still had ice crystals in it. Grabbing shampoo and a large metal pitcher from the side of the tub. She quickly wet his hair with the warm water that was continuing to flow into the tub, and then massaged the shampoo into his hair and scalp. "Ok you are seriously starting to piss me off here Jason. You usually would have made some lewd suggestion now about how we're both in this tub almost naked and me taking care of you like this, instead you're just lying there like a lump with your beauti…your eyes closed…and I still want to know how you got this way. Seriously, who knew you were such a klutz in the snow." She rinsed his hair as she talked

Unable to reach the sponge or body wash with Walsh situated in her lap the way he was, she instead opted for the soap and her hands. Working a lather up in her hands she started rubbing his chest, neck, and shoulders and as much of his back as she could reach, "Come on Jason, I need you to wake up, please wake up."

Maneuvering Jason to a sitting position was challenging but she needed to try and get the circulation going through as much of his body as possible. When she had him situated where she didn't fear for his sliding down and drowning she started to scrub his legs and feet and began to notice there was a little more color to his skin. She also felt the water beginning to cool, finally she poured a pitcher of water over his boxer clad nether regions. "I'm a bad person Jason, but I'm not that bad." said Casey, as she turned with a shiver to let the water out of the tub.

"T…too ba…d, I think I am," came a raspy voice from behind her as a single cold finger traced across her hip.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Casey shrieked either from surprise or joy would be debated later, and stared at the glazed eyes of her partner. She threw herself on his still chilled body and hugged him as the water continued to drain out of the tub.

"Casey…enjoying this…beautiful…but cold…" he slurred, as he clumsily tried to wrap his arms around her.

"Come on then," quickly wiggling her way around behind him. Casey wrapped her arms around his still wet chest and after a little slipping and sliding, got her legs under her and began to pull. Using her own legs to protect his back as she dragged him out over the edge of the tub.

After that with a good bit of wiggling and wrestling on both their parts. He was dressed and wrapped in her fathers robe, the underwear transfer was done under the robe, with the shears and Casey helping remove the old ones and pulling the clean ones up onto his thighs and him pulling them the rest of the way up.

Her own soaked underwear was removed under her own t-shirt and then she put on her moms terry robe. Not bothering with her other clothes, Schraeger hurried over to Walsh and said, "Ok my parents room is closer and they have a fireplace, can you help me get you there?"

"Can try?" he said still too cold to even shiver. She was surprised he was lucid enough to talk, surprised but grateful. Casey helped him sit up and putting his arm over her shoulder she waited for him to get his feet under him before they tried standing. Walsh's feet slid out from under him and then his knees buckled and Casey barely got herself underneath before he collapsed on top of her. She grunted in pain and he let out a slow groan, before gasping her name as he realized he was practically sitting in her lap. He asked, "Ok?"

'Uhm ow?" Casey said before adding, "You remember when you said I had a fat woman trying to get out, yeah this is one time I wish I had her ass. Ok ugh I'm such an idiot. Are you okay?"

"Think so," he said sluggishly, "sorry."

"Gotta get you in the bed and warmed up," quickly grabbing warmed bath sheets off the rack she folded one and put under his head and then covered him with the others. "I'll be right back."

Casey scooted into her parents room and lighted the kindling under the fire that the caretaker had set up, she gathered more firewood while waiting impatiently for the wood to catch. Then ran to her fathers office and pushed out the rolling desk chair and after a bit of wrangling got it into her parents bathroom. She checked the fire and sighed in relief as she saw it was beginning to blaze merrily. Pulling the covers back on their bed and after piling a few more blankets on top of the bed, she went back to the bathroom.

Pulling the chair over next to Walsh and locking the tires, the pair once again engaged in a wrestling match to get Jason up onto the chair. When he was in the chair Casey wrapped her arm around his upper torso and pulled the chair backwards into the bedroom. She pulled him as close to the bed as she could and locking the wheels again she helped him pull the robe off and then she transferred him to the bed, ending up half trapped under him in the process. Quickly pushing and pulling she got him situated in the bed and under the covers. She moved the desk chair out of the way, closed the bathroom and bedroom doors to keep as much of the heat in the room as possible.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" when Walsh opened his eyes she saw only confusion for a moment. "Never mind we'll take care of that later." She turned on a lamp and crawled into the bed, she studied him thoughtfully. "This is going to be a bit of a challenge and you really will wish for that fat woman, a little more coverage." she huffed a laugh and slowly slid across his body. Trying to position herself over him to cover as much of his body with her own as possible, "Okay, groin to groin, chest to chest, and the rest will take care of itself." She said as she laced her hands over his chest and put her chin on top of them to gaze up at him.

"Thought…it was…sposed to be…skin to skin….was best?" said Walsh as he tried once again to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Remember when I said I wasn't that bad, I'm not going to take advantage of you while you're like this. So let's work on getting you warm." Sitting up on his waist again, she took his hands and kissed them and they were still frigid against her skin. Placing his hands together, she placed them on his abdomen and then very carefully laid back down across them. The shock of that icy touch to her warm abdomen was actually not as bad as she thought it would be. "Hmmm warmm." He looked at her with those changeable eyes, that suddenly cleared for a minute as his brows furrowed. "Why…being nice…'m sposed to…pologize."

"Huh," the brunette said absently trying to position herself to cover Walsh as much as possible, "Apologize for what?"

He grunted and tried to pull his hand out Casey barely felt his hand move but she did feel it and sighed in exasperation lifting back up so he could move his hand while saying, "You know the object of this is to get you warm, and preferably not to die of hypother…"

Jason wrapped his hand around the back of her neck with surprising accuracy considering his still numb fingers. He drew her down carefully, till their eyes met and enunciated carefully, "'M sorry, Casey." He said and there was a sad look in his eyes as he repeated, "'M sorry...for making you cry."

"I think you've apologized more in the past few days than in our whole partnership." said Casey trying to avoid meeting his eyes.

"Yep…" he said earnestly, "'m a prick', why…why do you…put up…with my bull?"

"Same reason you put up with mine, I suppose." she said, trying to shrug.

"Don't joke…" he replied seriously, before a great shudder racked his body and he grimaced in pain.

"Okay no more talking for you." she said breaking his hold easily to place his hand back between their two bodies. "This is gonna hurt but you've started shivering that's good. It means you're body is warming up." She said as she pulled the covers more securely around them. "Don't worry I'm gonna take care of you," She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and kissed his throat and collar bone as the shudders began to grow in frequency and length.

"Wisssh, I cccould hold you bback." he said, "I ddon think ccan fall assssleep like thisss."

Casey tried to hold him tighter as she said, "Hopefully you'll only shiver a couple of hours at most, then you can rest. If I remember Dad keeps Ibuprofen in his nightstand for muscle aches. He likes snowmobiling a little too much for his own good."

She started to reach for the bedside table when Walsh called out, "Don't…don't mmmove."

"Jason, if you're trying to tell me that even in this state you can get an…"

"Nno, I jusst like you there, pleasse." With the final word he nearly bent in half, almost throwing Schraeger off the bed. The groan that came from him after that was so pained, it caused Casey's eyes to sting with sympathy. "Ok, alright meds, food and coffee or hot cocoa after sleep."

"Coccoa with whipped ccream…yum." he said with a child-like look that shouldn't be possible on a grown man, especially not one who was in so much pain and recovering from hypothermia.

"Arrms back around," he enunciated carefully, Between the shivering, shuddering and chattering teeth, he was still trying to talk to her.

She lifted her head from her carefully folded hands and shook her head before saying. "You have to stop talking first."

His brow furrowed and she knew that meant he wouldn't stop talking anytime soon. "Whyy?" The whine was just a little too close to a five year old for Schraegers comfort but she answered.

"If I answer you I have to have my chin on my hands to protect your chest from being bruised." she explained. He wiggled his eyebrows as though asking for an explanation. "Davis told me I had a bony chin and that I was a restless sleeper. That's why he didn't want me to stay over after…."

"Putz," Jason said very succinctly, "If you don't want the woman in bbed with you when you wwake up, don't take her ttto…" a painful full body shudder, stopped his speaking for a moment..

"Bed in the first place." finished Schraeger helpfully.

Walsh nodded vigorously. "Ok fine no more talk about Davis or how to treat a woman or anything. Sleep." she commanded.

He nodded but being Walsh had to have the final word, "Finissh laterrr."

"Fine, later. Now sleep Walsh," Casey reiterated before laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his torso. Eventually Jason did stop shuddering and shivering and dozed off. Casey followed soon after.

Xxxxxxxxx

Casey woke up the next morning gradually, warm and comfy. The bed was comfortable and the blanket wrapped around her was very warm…and breathing. Casey stiffened for a moment before her memory worked its way through her tired mind. Walsh,

Who was much better apparently as he was no longer shivering. As a matter of fact he was currently cocooned around her, one arm under her neck wrapped around her shoulders, the other draped over her abdomen. One of his legs was wrapped over both of hers and his nose was burrowed into her hair behind her ear. This while very comforting (he must be better as he wasn't shivering anymore) and comfortable (he was a big blanket), he was also uncomfortable and a little daunting. One she really had to go to the bathroom and sometime during the night he had shucked the boxers he had been wearing.

Casey tried moving the limbs she was trapped under. That didn't work Walsh apparently wasn't budging. She tried wiggling her way out from under Walsh's hold that only wakened him enough to tighten his hold and whine quietly. "Too early Casey. Go back to sleep."

"Jason I have to go to the bathroom. Like now or this is going to get really embarrassing."

He grumbled irritably but unwrapped his arms and leg, which she swore had grown a few inches and she actually trotted to the bathroom. When she came back out Walsh seemed to have dozed back off. Which was actually fine with her, taking the glass on her fathers bedside table, she went to rinse it out in the bathroom sink. Going back into the bedroom she nearly tripped over the office chair in the early morning gloom, grunting as she stubbed her toe. Walking over to the bedside table, she set the water on the table and rummaged in the drawer before fishing out the bottle of Ibuprofen and putting them beside the water.

Shaking her head, she considered suggesting her father invest in pharmaceutical companies considering how much she and Walsh went through them alone it would be a good investment. Grabbing the office chair she pushed it as quietly as possible, which actually wasn't very quiet at all, back to her fathers office. Wrangling it through the door was a bit challenging, when she finally got it through the door, she glanced up at the wall she had tacked the information up on and noticed her family picture was missing.

Walking further into the room she leaned over and looked on the desk to see if possibly it had gotten knocked down in the chaos of the night. An incredibly strong

arm suddenly wrapped around her waist and one arm and she saw the flash of a knife. Her hand was near the stapler that she had grabbed when Walsh had startled her the other night. Acting on instinct Shraeger flipped the stapler and screamed as she slammed it into the hand holding her, with a startled yelp her attacker released her shaking his hand. She whirled and slammed the stapler into his forehead, not really seeing him until he lurched back in surprise. _Lawson!_

Seeing the knife in his hand she swung the still open stapler down on his wrist, this time the serial killer gave an unmanly shriek and dropping the knife stepped further back. He lunged forward furiously scrabbling to get his bleeding hand around Casey's throat. He threw his body weight at her and slammed her into her fathers desk, finally using the bleeding hand to backhand her. Using his right forearm, the wrist of which she had possibly broken.

He said, "You read the letters, why are you fighting me, we're destined to be together, why can't you see that?" Pulling the family photo out of his parka pocket, with the bleeding hand, he shoved it in her face. "This could be us, our child, we could have it all." She couldn't breath and her vision was starting to become dark around the edges. "No one would stand in our way, Cassandra. Not our families, not the police, not even that Neanderthal partner of yours, no one." He continued as they struggled with each other, "But you couldn't see it, could you Cassandra, you've been…"

Casey saw something slam into Lawson's head, with a glancing blow, that still stunned the psycho, who slid to the floor in a stupor, she heard Walsh's voice say, "Her name is Casey, asshole!" Before he lost his grip on the door jam of the office and fell on top of Lawson. His elbow fell right on Lawson's face and neck, knocking him out cold.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N-**So sorry about the late post but real life and these guys haven't exactly cooperated this week. This is the second to last chapter, there will be a small epilogue chapter. I have enjoyed writing this story, it was a blast and a challenge to write. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Please read, enjoy and review.

A special thanks to Wicked42 for letting me adopt your orphan. I hope you think I did it justice and raised it well.

Also a special thanks to ladygris for being a great mentor. Thanks ladies. ~A

**Chapter 12**

Casey slid to the floor, hands on her knees, gasping and gagging for breath.

"That went better in my head." Walsh said rolling somewhat on top of Lawson so he could look up at Casey. "Think we're gonna need that chair back Casey,"

"How'd you get out here and what'd you hit him with?" Casey gasped out as her vision cleared.

"Ran, till my legs figured out I couldn't, then crawled really fast." Laying half across Lawson, he held a piece of firewood out to her.

"You hit him with a log?" Casey husked incredulously.

"Gotta love roughing it. Besides it's the only weapon I could find along the way," he said letting it fall to the floor between them. That's when Casey finally realized Walsh was still completely naked.

Shaking her head, Casey said in a strained voice, "Only you, Jason Walsh, potentially frostbitten, unarmed and completely naked, would still insist on coming to rescue me."

"Before we get into a fight could we do a few things first? Like find something to tie up the nice serial killer with, call the local cops, and get dressed, well me maybe more than you. I don't think I'll ever be warm enough again." Shaking her head again, Casey took off the robe she was wearing and carefully covered as much of Walsh as possible with it. He reached up and touched her throat with his fingertips, "Shoulda hit him harder." Casey snorted before going to try and find something to tie Lawson up with.

**xxxxxxxxx**

She finally settled on robe ties, making sure to wrangle him out of boots, gloves, and snow gear. Walsh watched from the office chair sitting next to the desk as Casey tied Lawson up. He looked at the desk where Lawson had obviously been rifling through the drawers. A round stone paperweight and a few other items had been pulled out of the drawers and placed on top of the desk during the search.

Jason was now wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, boxers, sweats, very thick woolen socks, Mr. Schraeger's fleece lined slippers and a hoodie. He finally said thoughtfully, "You know Schraeger I find it a little disturbing that you're so good at undressing unconscious men. Useful, but disturbing."

"Yeah and I find it disturbing, if not insane, that you came to the rescue totally naked." Said Casey as she completed the last knot and stood up to face Jason, a scowl on her face. "You crawled out of a perfectly safe bedroom, with your frostbitten self, crawling, buck naked and unarmed against an armed serial killer, _are you trying to drive me crazy! " _

Walsh visibly flinched and then laughed before using her fathers desk to stand. He had learned a few things working with Allison and now Casey in the past few years. You did not argue with women while sitting down, they took it that you didn't respect them enough to think they could be a threat, Walsh had the scars and bruises to prove otherwise.

"I didn't have time to get dressed, I didn't find anything I could use as a weapon in your parents bedroom, went by the fireplace on the way to the office. It had a nice supply of firewood, so appreciate yourself for that. I didn't know I couldn't walk until I realized I couldn't after I tried." He pushed himself up to his full height as he said, "I thought, if nothing else you wouldn't mind a little backup, this time."

"Back up, back up, you go rushing into an unknown situation in the condition you're in. Are you crazy, or like I said just trying to drive me that way?" You could have been hurt or killed, what were you thinking?"

"That the scream you let out, meant you were probably in trouble and wouldn't mind a little help?" Walsh supplied helpfully as he slowly began to lean against her fathers desk. "And you don't want to talk crazy with me right now." he added in a mutter.

"I didn't scream?" Casey denied hotly. Although as she thought back she imagined she probably had screamed, or yelled or something.

"Really," said Walsh disbelievingly, then looked down at the still bleeding and unconscious form of Derek Lawson, "Well Beaumont did do her best to turn him into a soprano, maybe she succeeded."

Not understanding the reference Casey said throwing her hands up in the air, "See you are trying to drive me crazy, I have no idea what that even means. I give up." She said as she turned to leave the office.

"It means I love you," Walsh said quietly, more to himself than to Casey, not really expecting her to hear him.

"What did you say?" Casey asked from the doorway.

Looking up from where he had been staring at Lawson, he saw her gazing at him in stunned surprise. "I said, I love you."

**xxxxxxxxx**

"Well isn't that special?" Came a saccharine sweet voice, from the doorway of the lodge, Casey turned to find her former roommate, Fran Roth with a gun pointed at her. "Come on Casey, Why don't you have your partner, come out here to join us?"

"Fran? What the…?"

"I said get him out here Casey!" The woman screeched, her hand shaking slightly and it wasn't in fear. Casey turned back to see Walsh slip something into his pocket from her fathers desk. She started to step into the office to help him and was halted by Fran's voice saying, "Where do you think you're going?"

"He's got frostbite Fran, he can't exactly walk on his own right now." Fran indicated Casey should walk into the office in front of her. "And how did lover boy get frostbite Cassandra? Did you do your usual Ice Queen routine?" For a moment she didn't even notice Lawson tied up on the floor. Then Walsh saw her snow bunny costume, Purple ski hat and gray ski suit with purple accents, a memory flashed through his mind. He didn't even look down when he said, "Actually I fell through the ice accidentally while I was spying on you and your lover boy here."

Fran glanced down but not long enough for Schraeger to make a move, instead trusting Walsh to handle Roth she moved to Walsh's right side as Fran looked at her male counterpart.

Her face was screwed up into a look of disgust as she stepped forward, and for a minute it looked as if she was going to kick Lawson. Instead she said, "Really Derek, I swear you turned into an idiot while you were in prison." Then motioning at Schraeger and Walsh with the gun she indicated for the pair to leave the office in front of her.

Walsh leaned on Casey heavily while they were walking out of the office and it wasn't until they were in the living room, Casey wondered if her partner was acting weaker than he was to lull Fran into a false sense of security.

"Now as much as I would love to _play _with the two of you, I'm quite sure that with Derek making his untimely visit has caused you to call the local authorities to come pick him up so you can continue with the _sexual healing _of your partner."

"Derek," she said her tone going dark and menacing, "screwed things up. Originally we were supposed to have a little fun with you and then make you look like a murder/suicide,"

"You're not going to get away with that Fran. You don't think it's going to look a little suspicious, that a couple call the Swiss police to report having a serial killer subdued and then commit murder and suicide before the police arrive to take the prisoner in custody. They won't fall for that."

"Why not, they have several times before. Siobhan, my parents, several others." she saw the blood drain from Casey's face and smiled at her with pride. The pride of a teacher for a student that finally solves a problem they've been struggling with for the entire class. The laugh Fran gave was bone chilling, but Casey also noticed that Walsh's gambit was working. Fran was paying him no attention.

She said in that same cold tone, "Let me guess, when you saw me you thought I was what Derek's girlfriend, groupie, or protégé perhaps?" When she saw the horror in the other woman's eyes she smiled at her with false sympathy

"Oh Cassandra perhaps it was a good thing that we decided to go our separate ways all those years ago. I had hoped that you might join my little Hellfire Club, but your fascination with dear Siobhan and her goody two-shoes ideals and plebian ways just wouldn't do. I decided to see if I could bring you back around by eliminating the obstacle but some of my protégé's wanted to have a little fun with her first, including dear Derek. Personally when her family disowned her I thought that would push her over the edge."

Casey, thought's spinning queried angrily, "I always wondered why her parents wouldn't even listen to her, you called and filled their heads with poison and lies, huh?"

"I must admit dear old dad was more than willing to believe his little angel had turned into a little whore while not under his thumb." Fran said with a smirk, that turned sour as she continued, "But she still held on, the scholarship paid for everything and the school staff were sympathetic to her instead of being concerned how her taint would affect the school. Damn them." she said with remembered aggravation. Shrugging slightly, the woman continued, 'I finally got tired of her obstinance…"

"Fortitude." said Casey with surprising vehemence.

"Whatever," Fran said dismissively, "and Derek and I finished her off one evening while you were away. My parents were even easier, they had been fighting publicly, no prenup…so the bitch would have gotten a good chunk of my inheritance. So I decided to take care of both of them and get it all. That one while fun, was all about the money. I mean really you should have seen their faces."

Shrugging her shoulders, Fran looked at the pair and said, "So a bit of adjustment, this storm will no doubt slow the response time of our Swiss in blue or whatever color their uniforms are. So lets see…ah yes…Derek having obsessed over Detective Schraeger while in jail will come for his supposed rendezvous. He will find the two of you in bed you will initially have subdued him and called the authorities but in the delay of the storm he will manage to escape his bonds." She nods her head and smiles as she plots. Distracted by her plans she fails to notice Jason carefully pull Casey slightly behind him, she nearly struggled on instinct but at the last second caught herself from drawing Fran's attention to the pair of them.

"After a brief battle he will eschew his usual knives and instead decide to shoot you both and then burn down the cabin to hide the evidence. Unfortunately due to injuries sustained the suspect, poor Derek, will not make it out of the fire he has set." She mimics a mournful look as she says sadly, "Ah what a tragedy, young love cut short but at least you finally got your man, eh Casey?"

"Great plan. Just one little flaw." said Jason with a charming little smirk.

For a split-second Fran looked confused as if she really had forgotten that Walsh was there, and then she said, "Oh really, what flaw?"

"He's not her man…" he said nodding toward the office.

As Jason hoped Fran's gaze followed the nod to the office, "I am." The decorative stone paperweight flew from his left hand towards Fran's left cheek.

Fran's head snapped back and her body slid bonelessly to the floor. Casey's mouth gaped as she stared at Jason who leaned very heavily on her this time as he said, "I think your folks need to get better locks." She got a stronger grip on his waist and helped him lower himself to the arm chair.

"Actually I'm not sure I locked it yesterday after you got back." Casey said sheepishly, "I was a little preoccupied."

Jason quirked a smile at her, and said, "I would ask the obvious question about that being before or after the undressing thing but I think I'll wait till after."

"After?" said Casey, raising an eyebrow, as she knelt beside her partner. "Yeah after we tie up Fran, pull Lawson out here so we can keep an eye on both of them, call the locals, and have a serious discussion…"

"Yeah ok after." She stood and looked around, "any suggestions for restraints. Afraid short of twist ties, we got nothing." She shrugged and huffed a hysteria tinged laugh as she said, "Could always take 'em out to the wood shed and lock 'em in."

"As appealing as that is the Swiss might object if there frozen bodies are stacked up out there with the firewood." he said as his eyes wandered the chalet considering. Eyes lighting on the kitchen Jason's forehead wrinkled as he said, "What happened to the sheet?"

"Used it to drag you to the bathroom last night." Casey replied as she went into the office and pulled Lawson out into the living area by his feet, not really caring if his head hit a few hard surfaces along the way.

"Think your parents would mind if we ripped up the sheet for making a rope?" he said smiling at her with affectionate amusement.

Casey shrugged with a smile as she walked swiftly back to her parents room and came back out with the sheet and started ripping it into strips. "Not anymore than they will be with me turning dads walls into a bulletin board.

After stripping Fran similar to Lawson she began tying her up with the sheets, after checking the gun Fran had used she put it on safety, ejected the clip, checked it and slammed it back home before tossing the gun and phone to Jason.

Call Magda she'll know the number for the Swiss police and can get them moving in this direction although, it'll probably take them a bit. Long enough to change, eat, stoke the fire and have this _the Talk._"

While she was changing into a sweater, jeans and boots Casey heard Jason talking to Magda. The older woman wanted to send Gregor and Nikolai to the cabin to help. Walsh reassured the woman that they were fine, the bad people were securely tied up and that yes they and after reassuring the woman they were both relatively fine, Told her they would be very concerned if the pair came out in the storm. The woman finally yielded to the younger man's charm and agreed to make the call and keep her men at home.

Casey made sandwiches and chips, bringing them both coffee to drink. Jason wolfed the sandwiches down and Casey realized it had been yesterday morning since he had eaten, if he had even eaten then. He set the gun on the couch between the two of them as he held the cup between his hands to absorb the warmth of it as he drank the brew.

"First question, you really saw them yesterday?" Casey asked him in between bites of her sandwich. Jason nodded his head, grateful for once at Caseys skewed sense of priorities. It gave him time to get his thoughts together.

"I saw them, but I didn't remember until I saw that snow suit of hers." he replied, with a shiver, which had Casey jumping back up to stoke the fire and added more firewood. "Sorry, forgot."

"Next question," Jason said, "how do you feel about what she said about Siobhan?"

"I think I want to at least try and track down Siobhan's parents to tell them the truth. Whether they believe me or not, whether they care or not, I think I want to at least go visit Siobhan's grave before we go back home. I want to tell her we found her killers, give her a little peace. If I can't find her parents or they don't want to hear the truth after all these years. I want to see about having her moved back to her home in Ireland, I think she would like that."

"I'd like to help," Walsh said. "I think it would be good for you too. Now that we know the truth, you can both get some closure and if they don't want to hear the truth, that's on her parents."

"My question how much of the frostbite is real?" she asked looking with. worry at his lower extremities.

"Wasn't faking that Casey, played it up a little for Roth, but yeah gonna have to be checked out by a doc sooner than later I'd say." he admitted roughly before setting the coffee cup down on the side table.

"Damn." Casey said with frustration then putting the gun on the table beside their cups she lifted his legs up between the back of the couch and her thigh before pulling a throw blanket over them. She was fussing with the blanket when he caught her hands in his and said, "Casey, do you remember a little after we first met, were having a talk in the diner about secrets…"

Casey nodded her head and said, "You said secrets were what kept us sane."

"Exactly, well there is one secret that has actually been making me crazy for a few years now. I'm in love with you Casey Schraeger." She watched as he lowered his eyes to their intertwined fingers and brought them to his lips before he continued to explain, "I realized I was feeling more protective of you when you told me you and Davis were lovers." He shook his head and said "I did a background check on him Casey." Casey actually snorted in amusement and taking that as a positive sign Walsh continued.

"That's why Allison and I broke up, she figured it out. I was trying to keep it out of our work, but when Lawson took you and we found you, it kind of broke me for a little while...you scared the hell out of me Casey." he took a little breath. "You were in hospital for a while so I had time to pull it together but I was also staying with you in the hospital and Allison figured it out after that… Hell Allison realized what was going on before I even knew what it was I was feeling."

He bowed his head over their hands as he began to chuckle and said finally, "When I woke up with you in the tub I thought I was having one of _those_ dreams." Jason looked up into her eyes and his were shimmering as he admitted,_ "_Best one yet,"

"Don't worry," Walsh said as he very slowly untwined their fingers. "I've gotten good at hiding how I feel. Nobody except you, me and Beaumont know and she likes you better than me so she won't tell…" he gave another rough laugh as he admitted, "Don't expect me to stop trying to protect you…I can't…" he started and suddenly he had an armful of Schraeger, her lips were a few centimeters from his when she said, "You are wise, kind, and brave and you talk too much." she said before her lips met his.

After a couple of minutes of kissing that Walsh swore would have instantly defrosted him yesterday, the duo came up for air. Jason gave Casey a warm soul melting smile and said, "Less talking, yes ma'am I can do that, You know you could help me do that if you keep kissing me like that. My mouth, would be preoccupied and I wouldn't humph…"

Casey being the good cop she was helped her partner out.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N-Final Chapter" Thank you all for the views, reviews and so forth. Also thank you to Wicked 42 for the idea. I hope everyone has enjoyed this. Please read, enjoy, and review.**

Epilogue

The other detectives were admiring the gifts that Walsh and Schraeger had sent from Switzerland. On the day before he had turned forty-three Leo Banks decided that not only was he going to survive but that he was also wasting time. That evening he had asked his girlfriend Bridget the dispatcher to marry him and she had said, yes. They were now expecting their first child and Casey had sent a very cute hand carved crib and a set of crocheted baby blankets in yellow. Banks was practically gushing over.

Dr. Monica Crumb was good for Eric Delahoy. When he had pursued her for more dates instead of more help with his tumor, she had sat him down in a restaurant for a talk. She had informed him that if he was willing to pursue a relationship the he should also be willing to pursue life. She would date him but only if he sought treatment. She had said bluntly, "Otherwise it's just a dead-end relationship, with a walking dead man."

The next day Eric had told his boss and partner the truth about his tumor then he and Monica had gone to an oncologist friend of hers who had hired her as a pathologist after she had been fired from the M.E.'s office. She had shaved his head prior to the start of his treatment, it was now starting to grow back in to an embarrassingly curly degree. Casey had gone to a haberdashery and carefully selected several hats which had been carefully packaged and sent to the Second. Brown was also the proud recipient of a hat, a fine fur lined leather coat and gloves as well as a box of exceptional chocolates for his wife.

Eddie Alvarez and Nicole had also received some fine chocolates and Nicole had also received an embroidered, quilted jacket for wearing around the office. The current D.A., whether as a cost cutting measure or because he was a cold natured type he kept the office a chilly 68 degrees and poor Nicole had a permanent cold

Cole had received a beautiful Italian marble statue of Jesus and the children. After the incident with Lutz, Cole had broken his engagement and toned down his religious fervor a bit, and concentrated on his police work.

Allison had been taking a very appreciative look at her partner but Cole just wasn't getting the signals. Casey had sent several packages and a small note , which read, "Ask him out tonight and wear your choice of these. I guarantee you'll change his religion."

Suspecting that Casey might have sent her some lingerie, Allison waited until she got to her apartment to open the packages. No lingerie instead there were three pairs of Jimmy Choo's, including a pair of red stilettos. Inside the stilettos was another small note that read, "Better than changing his gender." Allison had laughed herself silly and had finally worked up the courage to call her partner

and ask him out.

**xxxxxxxxx**

Casey Schraeger knelt in the snow in a small graveyard. The headstone read Siobhan McKenna, it had her friends particulars, and it read Beloved in Gaelic. She had ordered the gravestone as soon as she had inherited her trust fund. Schraeger had wanted to do it after her friend had died but for once her parents had said no to their daughter. They had insisted that Siobhan's family should buy her gravestone, despite the fact that Casey had repeatedly explained to them that Siobhan's family had disowned her and would not be buying her a gravestone. Casey had actually heard her mother saying they didn't want Casey emulating the McKenna girl anyway and that buying the gravestone would be like condoning the behavior of the girl. Casey had been furious.

Casey had tried to contact Siobhan's family only to discover that her parents had been killed in a car crash and her sister had moved away to parts unknown. Casey with Walsh's help had arranged to have Siobhan's remains removed from the very small school graveyard and re-interred in Ireland in a small graveyard near her hometown. The gravestone would go with her and stand over the new gravesite.

Casey had explained all of this and more to her dead friends spirit as she had sat at the graveside. She had caught her up on the past several years. There had been several tears, laughter, and vindication in the initial conversation. Then she had explained to her friend that she had decided to live the rest of her life for herself instead of for the both of them. She still planned on living life to the fullest with the man she loved, her partner Jason Walsh.

Jason had already asked her to move in with him, but not at the diner. While they both loved the diner, the apartment behind it while convenient was barely big enough for Walsh and certainly wouldn't accommodate the two of them. So Walsh had agreed to start looking for an apartment close to the diner and the cop shop that was within the pairs combined salaries. Casey was still determined to live life as normally as possible, with a few exceptions. After spending more time with the Klums and Nikolai, the pair had decided to come back and visit occasionally. The couple and their brother were some of Casey's fonder memories from her childhood. Walsh had quickly become a part of the family, especially when with Magda as interpreter he had actually managed to teach Nikolai how to play chess.

Although it was true that normally Switzerland did not have extradition because they had been "Shown up" by the Americans in capturing the two serial killers. Casey had agreed not to make a big deal about it in the press as it might damage the tourist trade. Paperwork being paperwork though they had to wait for everything to go through before they could leave, which of course took another couple of weeks.

The couple did touristy things, talked, had dinner and played chess with the Klums and enjoyed discovering things about each other. Walsh finally explained the reference to Beaumont and Lawson now being a soprano, to which Casey had made a few phone calls to someone named Mr. Jimmy. Walsh had managed to experiment with several more recipes on Casey, some were vetoed, but several were approved to the point he had even made a dinner for the Klums, Nikolai and a pair of Swiss inspectors who they had befriended in the past few weeks.

Casey explained all of this to Siobhan, before saying, "The next time we see each other you will be back in Ireland, looking over that loch you told me so much about. I wish I could tell you how much you meant to me but I have a feeling you know. I kind of think you've been watching over me all along. Now its time for you to rest. Got somebody else to watch over and to watch over me. Love you Siobhan and I miss you."

As if in answer a wind blew threw the ice and snow covered pines near the edge of the graveyard, the sound of the branches rubbing together sounded like voices whispering and Casey smiled. She brushed the snow from her jeans as she stood up, and turned to look at Jason standing a few yards away. Her smile widened as she saw his warm gaze as he held his hand out to her.

They heard the workmen begin to shout instructions to each other in the background, as the earthmovers began to move in to disinter the remains of Siobhan McKenna. He tucked her cold fingers into the crook of his arm to warm them up, holding onto them as he guided her away from the grave. Walsh said, "So this we can't really count as an E.I.D., because this happened before you even became a cop and we had no way of knowing about Fran and Lawson's involvement."

"True, but I should have figured out the whole Roth's child reference." replied Casey as he walked her down the hill to their waiting car.

"Maybe but you had no way of knowing they even knew each other. I mean she's from Boston, he's from New York. Their families never even ran in the same circles, they met here at a party, when you were kind of getting out of that scene." he said in a gentle tone.

"I know, I know." then Casey stopped dead in her tracks and turned to stare at Walsh with a look of surprised wonder as she said, "Walsh! How long is the longest running E.I.D.?"

Giving her a perplexed look before thinking seriously about it, he shook his head, "I don't know we have some that have never really been solved and probably won't be cause they kind of dead-ended…" he winced slightly and added, "Bad choice of words."

"Wrong, you detective were an E.I.D. over me and Lawson. Although not ongoing you just kind of had the emotional investment go into hibernation cause Lawson did go to jail for three years," she continued as she worked it out in her head her eyes going distant, "then it flared back up when he was paroled. Yeah that makes sense." She concluded with a little nod to herself as she started walking again. Only to be pulled up short when Walsh didn't move.

Walsh was smiling at her and shaking his head. It was one of the smiles that he had that really annoyed her. The mentoring 'I know better than you, and you just made a rookie mistake' look. Reeling her in with the hand he still held onto he looked down into he eyes and said, "Wrong and right. I was an E.I.D. but not because of Lawson. I was emotionally involved with you Casey Schraeger when you came into my diner with Brown in that ridiculous hooker outfit. I thought you were some kid I was going to have to babysit until you figured out the Second was too much for you."

He pulled her other hand up to warm both between both of his. Right before he saw the flash of anger that probably would have meant a smack in the need me to be your babysitter when you figured out the Boorland thing, pretty much on your own, I started to fall in love with you when you brought back that stupid trophy." he said with a smirk and a little laugh. "I knew I was in trouble when you asked Alvarez if he ever played Bo Peep to his wife's Big Bad Wolf and he actually asked when you and his wife had talked."

"Yeah when we found you and Lawson my hands were shaking so bad my handwriting looked like something a four year old might manage…"

"After a box of chocolate and a six pack of sodas." Finished Schraeger with a warm reassuring smile. "I think mine started out with admiration, kind of progressed to almost hero-worship and then started noticing you were actually a man, a rather sexy and complicated man right under my very nose. I knew I was in trouble when you already knew I was _that Schraeger, _ and yet you never had treated me any differently. So I guess I fell for you kind of right off but it took me longer to fall in love with you."

He pulled both of her hands up to kiss the fingers and said, "Yeah well at least we finally got around to admitting we were in love with each other. I swear I think the others had a betting pool going on as to when it was finally going to happen." Keeping his arms wrapped around her Walsh pulled her towards the relative warmth of the car.

She responded, "I wonder who won?"

"That's easy," Walsh said as he opened the passenger door on the car but lowered his head for another kiss, "We did."

The End

**A/N-I offer a challenge for those who have enjoyed this story, discovered this fandom, or been inspired by these characters. Please write a fic in this fandom. Thank you all for your kind attention and positive feedback.**

**~Assantra**


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